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THE STORY OF ART
THROUGHOUT THE
AGES An Illustrated
Record ^ <m

THE STORY OF ART
THROUGHOUT THE
AGES An Illustrated Record

>

•ylA°

By £ REINACH
Member of ihe Institute of France

From the French by FLORENCE SIMMONDS
With nearly Six Hundred Illustrations

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1904

Copyright, 1904, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published, December, 1904

TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK

CONTENTS

I.— THE ORIGIN OF ART

Art a Social Phenomenon. — The Art of the Savage and of the Child akin. — ¦
Primitive Manifestations of the Artistic Instinct. — Art in the Quaternary Period.
— The Art of the Reindeer Hunters. — Prehistoric Paintings in Cave Dwellings.
— The Caves of Perigord and of the Pyrenees. — The Magic Element in Primitive
Works of Art.
II.— ART IN THE POLISHED STONE AND BRONZE AGES . S
The Extinction of the Art of the Reindeer Hunters. — Primitive Dwellings and
Flint Implements. — Lacustrine Dwellings and Polished Stone Implements. —
Dolmens, Menhirs, Cromlechs. — Domestication of Animals and Culture of
Cereals. — First Use of Metals. — The Bronze Age. — Tumuli of Gavrinis,
Morbihan, and New Grange, Ireland. — The Absence of Animal Forms in the
Decoration of the Bronze Age. — High Degree of Excellence in Linear Decora
tion of this Period. — Stonehenge. — The Second Stone Age in Egypt. — Pre-
Pharaonic Art: Painted Vases discovered at Abydos and Negadah (Upper
Egypt). — Primitive Art in the Grecian Archipelago. — Babylon and Egypt the
Precursors of Classic Art.
III.— EGYPT, CHALD^A, AND PERSIA 15
Art in Egypt under the Pharaohs. — The Sa'ite Revival. — The Characteristics of
Egyptian Art. — Egyptian Temples. — Karnak. — Egyptian Statues, Figurines,
Bas-reliefs, and Paintings in Tombs. — The Scribe in the Louvre. — Conventions
of Egyptian Art. — Lange's "Law of Frontality." — Egyptian Decorative
Motives. — The Idea of Duration dominant in Egyptian Art. — Chaldaean Art:
The Monuments of Tello, near Bassorah. — Assyrian Art: The Bas-reliefs of
the Palace of Nineveh. — Assyrian Palaces. — Type of Assyrian Temples. —
Persian Art: The Palaces of Susa and Persepolis. — The Frieze oj Archers in
the Louvre. — Hittite Art based on that of Assyria. — The Phoenicians: Purely
Industrial Character of their Art. — Jewish Art derived from that of Assyria. —
The Antiquity of Indian and Chinese Art a Delusion. — Both derived from
Greece.
IV.— ^GEAN, MINOAN, AND MYCEN/EAN ART: TROY, CRETE,
AND MYCEN.E 26
Primitive Art in the Grecian Archipelago. — Its Tendency to reproduce the Human
Form. — Schliemann's Excavations at Hissarlik (Troy), Mycenae, and Tiryns. —
The Golden Vases of Vaphio. — Excavations made by Mr. Arthur Evans in
Crete. — Discovery of Minos' Palace, the Labyrinth. — Discovery of the Palace of
Phaestus. — The Three Periods of Prehistoric Greek Art. — Destruction of the
Mycenaean Civilisation by Barbarians. — Myceaenan Refugees in the Islands of
the Archipelago. — The Hellenic Middle Ages. — Cyclopean Walls. — The Gate
of the Lions at Mycenae. — Minqaa--ane~14ycenSEan Bas-reliefs and Metal-work.
Animation the Distinguishingi^aQicteiJs^iJspf Minoan Art.

CONTENTS
PAGE
V.— GREEK ART BEFORE PHIDIAS  33
The Abundance of Marble a Determining Factor in the Tendencies of Greek Art.
—The Rationalistic Cast of the Greek Intellect.— The Rapid Development of
Greek Art. — Archaic Statues. — The Artemis of Delos, the Hera of Samos, and
the Statue of Chares.— The Treasury of the Cnidians.— The Chian Sculptors
and their Invention of the Winged Victory.— The Dawn of Expression m
Sculpture.— The Orantes of the Acropolis.— Archaic Apollos and Athletes. —
The Type replaced by the Individual.— The Impetus given to Art by the Greek
Victories over the Persians: — The Pediments of the Temple of Aphaia at
^Egina.— The Pediments of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. — Myron and the
Statue of the Discobolus.— Polyclitus and the Statue of the Doryphorus. — The
Creation of the Type of the Amazon. — Phidias, Myron, and Polyclitus the
Supreme Masters of the First Great Period. — The Eternal Progression of Art.
VI.— PHIDIAS AND THE PARTHENON ... ... 42
The Embellishment of Athens under Pericles. — Phidias, Ictinus, and Callicles. —
The Building of the Parthenon and of the Erechtheum. — The Structure of Greek
Temples. — The Three Orders. — The Technical Perfection of the Parthenon. — ¦
The Propylasa, the Erechtheum, and the Temple of Nike Apteros. — The Sculp
tures of the Parthenon. — The Chryselephantine Statues of Athene and of Zeus.
— Furtwangler's Reconstruction of the Lemnian Athene. — The Venus of Milo.
VII.— PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS  50
The Modification of the Athenian Temperament brought about by the Pelopon-
nesian War. — The Philosophic Art of Scopas and Praxiteles. — The Irene and
Plutus of Cephisodotus. — The Hermes with the Infant Dionysus of Praxiteles.
— Other Works by the Master. — Lord Leconfield's Head of Aphrodite. — The
Sculptures of the Temple of Tegaea. — Passion the Characteristic of Scopas'
Art. — Lysippus and his Work in Bronze. — The Apoxyomenus. — The Borghese
Warrior. — The Woman of Herculaneum at Dresden. — The Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus. — The Group of Niobe and her Children. — The Victory of
Samothrace. — The Demeter of Cnidus. — Funereal Stelae. — The Ceramicus at
Athens.
VIII.— GREEK ART AFTER ALEXANDER THE GREAT . . 60
The Conquests of Alexander and their Influence on Greek Art. — The Rise of
Alexandria, Antioch, arid Pergamum. — The Hellenistic Epoch. — The Schools
of Rhodes and Pergamum. — The First Representation of the Barbarian and of
Nature in Art. — The Dying Gaul, formerly known as the Dying Gladiator. —
The Altar of Zeus at Pergamum. — The Laocoon. — The Belvedere Apollo. —
The Pourtales Apollo. — The Centaur and Eros. — The so-called Sarcophagus
of Alexander.
IX.— THE MINOR ARTS IN GREECE 66
The Artistic Character of Greek Industrial Objects. — Silver and Metal Cups and
Vases. — The Treasures of Hildesheim, Bernay, and Boscoreale. — The Greek
Painters. — The Nozze Aldobrandini. — Mosaics and Frescoes. — Egyptian Por
traits of the Graeco-Roman Period. — Greek Vases: Dipylon, Corinthian, and
Etruscan Vases. — Lecythi. — The Manufacture of Vases ceased to be exclusively
an Athenian Industry. — The Industry flourishing in Southern Italy. — Principal
Types of Greek Vases. — Terra-cotta Statuettes found at Tanagra and Myrina. —
Engraved Gems and Cameos. — Coins.

CONTENTS

PAGE

X.— ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN ART .  75
The Settlement of Etruria by Lydian Emigrants. — Etruscan Monuments and
Decorative Objects. — The so-called Etruscan Vases chiefly Importations from
Athens. — Paintings in the "Tomb of Francois" at Volsci. — Etruscan Portraits
in Terra-cotta. — Roman Art. — The Invasion of Italy by Greek Art. — The
Evolution of an Individual Roman Art — Its Manifestation in Architecture. —
The Coliseum. — The Adoption of the Vault. — The Pantheon and the Basilica
of Constantine. — Triumphal Arches. — The Archaistic Reaction under Augustus.
— Its Decline after Claudius and Revival under Hadrian. — The Antinous Type.
— Portraits of the Imperial Epoch. — The Orientalised Art of the Roman De
cadence. — Frescoes at Pompeii. — The Rospigliosi Eros with a Ladder. —
Analysis of Roman Art.
XI.— CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST 84
The Terms Early Christian and Byzantine Art explained. — The Catacombs in
Rorhe: Early Christian Paintings and Symbols. — Early Christian Sarcophagi.
— Early Christian Churches built on the Plan of the Roman Basilicas. — St.
Paul-without-the-Walls, Rome. — Decorative Mosaics at Rome and at Ravenna.
— Sant' Apollinare Nuovo. and Sant' Apollinare in Classe. — St. Sophia at Con
stantinople. — The Iconoclasts. — The Byzantine Renaissance. — Byzantine
Ivories, Enamels, Miniatures, and Metal-work. — The Decline of Byzantine
Art. — Arab and Moorish Art. — The Mosque at Amrou. — The Alhambra. —
The Persistence of the Byzantine Tradition in Russia and Southern Italy. — St.
Mark's Church, Venice. — The Byzantine Tradition discarded by Giotto and
Duccio.
XII.— ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 94
The Term Romance or Romanesque. — Inaccuracy of the Term Gothic. — Its First
Use by Raphael. — A Comparison of Romanesque and Gothic Architecture. —
The Celtic Influence on the Art of Northern Europe. — Grasco-Syrian Elements.
— Influence of the Byzantine Cities, Constantinople and Ravenna. — Phases of
the Transition from Romanesque to Gothic. — Characteristics of Romanesque
Architecture. — Of Gothic. — The Invention of the Pointed Arch. — The Age of
Cathedral-building. — The Three Periods of Gothic. — Town-halls, Dwellings,
and Fortresses. — The Architecture of the Future foreshadowed by Gothic.
XIII.— ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC SCULPTURE . 107
The Church the Patroness of Art in the Middle Ages. — The Origin of Painted
Glass. — Illuminated Manuscripts. — Decorative Sculpture in Romanesque and
Gothic Churches. — Conventional Character of Romanesque Ornament. —
Realistic Character of Gothic. — The "Vintage Capital" at Rheims. — The
Educational Intention of the Gothic Cathedral. — Vincent de Beauvais' Miroir
du Monde. — The supposed Ascetic Character of Gothic Art denied. — The
Anti-clerical Tendencies of the Gothic Imagiers a Romantic Fiction. — Portrait
Statues on Tombs. — Statuettes in Wood and Ivory. — The Serenity of Gothic
Art. — The Rise of the Burgundian School.
XIV.— THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE AND MODERN
ARCHITECTURE 116
Gothic Architecture Alien to the Italian Genius. — Renaissance Architecture in
Italy. — "Renaissance Art" a Misleading Term. — The Florentine Palaces
Types of Renaissance Architecture. — The Differences between Gothic and

CONTENTS
PAGE
Renaissance Churches. — The Duomo of Florence. — The Riccardi and Strozzi
Palaces. — St. Peter's, Rome. — The Disastrous Influence of Michelangelo on
his Imitators. — The Baroque Style. — The Palazzo Pesaro or Bevilacqua,
Venice. — Renaissance Architecture never fully accepted by the Northern
Nations. — French Castles and Mansions of the Renaissance Period. — The
Louvre. — Chateau of St. Germain. — Heidelberg. — Renaissance Buildings in
Paris and London. — The Rococo Style. — The Empire Style. — French Archi
tecture of the Second Empire. — Renaissance Architecture in Germany. —
Modern Gothic in England. — The "New Art," or Anglo-Belgian Movement.
XV— THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE . 132
The Renaissance in Italy no mere Revival of Classicism. — The First Renaissance
the Logical Development of Gothic Art. — The Apulian School of Sculptors.
— Niccola Pisano. — The Legend of Cimabue and Giotto a Myth. — Duccio of
Siena and his School. — Giotto and his Frescoes at Assisi and Florence. — The
Giotteschi. — Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli. — Masaccio, Paolo Uccello,
Andrea del Castagno. — Verrocchio, Sculptor and Painter. — Botticelli. — Ghir-
landajo. — Filippino Lippi. — Piero di Cosimo and Lorenzo di Credi. — Piero dei
Franceschi and Luca Signorelli. — The Character of Florentine Painting. —
Florentine Sculpture. — Donatello, Verrocchio, Desiderio da Settignano. —
Jacopo della Quercia. — Luca della Robbia. — Andrea Sansovino. — Fifteenth
Century Florence compared with the Athens of Pericles. — The Living or
Tactile Quality of the Highest Art.
XVI.— VENETIAN PAINTING 149
The Origin of the Venetian School. — The Vivarini. — The Bellini. — The Influence
of Padua upon Venice. — Mantegna. — Antonello da Messina. — Internal Pros
perity and Social Brilliance of Venice. — Sante Conversazioni. — The Joyousness
of Venetian Art. — Crivelli. — Carpaccio. — Cima. — Giorgione. — Titian. — Palma.
— Lorenzo Lotto. — Sebastiano del Piombo. — Tintoretto. — Paolo Veronese. —
Tiepolo. — The Enduring Influence of the Venetian School.
XVII.— LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL.— THE MILANESE
SCHOOL, THE UMBRIAN SCHOOL, AND THE ROMAN
SCHOOL 162
Leonardo's Genius a Synthesis of the Renaissance. — His Birth. — His Works for
Lodovico Sforza. — His Manuscripts: Scientific Writings. — Leonardo as a
Sculptor. — Leonardo's Pictures. — Raphael's Superiority to Perugino and Pinto-
ricchio. — Raphael's Birth and Parentage. — Timoteo Viti his First Master. —
The Knight's Dream. — Raphael Perugino's Assistant. — The Sposalizio. —
Raphael at Florence. — The Madonnas of the Florentine Period. — Raphael at
Rome. — Giulio Romano his Assistant. — The Vatican Frescoes. — Madonnas
and Portraits of the Roman Period. — An Appreciation of Raphael's Genius.
XVIII.— MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO 178
The Development of the Florentine School after Leonardo.— Fra Bartolommeo,
Andrea del Sarto, and Michelangelo. — Pontormo and Bronzino. — The Extinc
tion of the Florentine School caused by Michelangelo. — The Titanic Nature of
Michelangelo's Genius.— His Early Masterpieces of Sculpture.— The Ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel.— The Unfinished Tomb of Julius II.— The Medici Chapel,
Florence. — The Fresco of The Last Judgment, in the Sistine Chapel. — Pictures

CONTENTS
PAGE
by Michelangelo. — Sebastiano del Piombo, Daniele da Volterra, Benvenuto
Cellini, Giovanni da Bologna. — Correggio. — His Decoration of the Cupola of
Parma Cathedral. — His Type of the Virgin. — His Art the Expression of the
Counter-Reformation.
XIX.— THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND IN FLANDERS . . 190
The Union of Flanders and Burgundy. — The Valois Dukes of Burgundy and
their Patronage of Artists. — The Rise of the School of Burgundy at Dijon. —
The Early French Renaissance checked by National Calamity. — Flanders in
Advance of Italy at the Beginning of the XVth Century. — Early Flemish Artists.
— Claux Sluter and his Works at Dijon. — The Brothers Limbourg. — The Book
of Hours at Chantilly. — The Painter Malouel. — The Affinity between the
Flemish and Italian Primitives. — The Reciprocal Influence of the Two Schools.
— The Supposed Invention of the Oil Medium by Van Eyck. — The Brothers
Hubert and Jan van Eyck. — The Polyptych of the "Adoration of the Lamb."
— The Masterpieces of Jan van Eyck. — His Pupils: Albert van Ou water,
Thierry Bouts, Roger van der Weyden. — The Flemish School at its Apogee. —
Jacques Daret, Simon Marmion. — Hugo van der Goes and the Portinari Altar-
piece. — Memling, Gerard Davis, Quentin Matsys. — The Italianised Flemings:
Mabuse, B. van Orley. — The Realists: Jerome Bosch, Breughel the Elder. —
The Realistic Tendencies of Flemish Art. — The Franco-Flemish School at
Paris, Avignon, and the Court of King Rene. — Froment, Jean Fouquet. — The
Clouets. — The School of Fontainebleau. — Michel Colombe, Germain Pilon, and
Barthelemy Prieur. — Jean Goujon. — The Rise of the Dutch School. — The
Leyden Painters: Engelbrechtsen and Lucas van Leyden.
XX.— THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY .  206
The National Character of German Art. — The School of Prague. — Master
Wilhelm of Cologne. — Stephen Lochner. — His Adoration oj the Magi. — The
School of Cologne. — The Master of the Altar of St. Bartholomew, and other
Anonymous Masters of the School. — The Lack of Refinement in German Art.
— German Wood-carving and its Influence on Painting. — The Suabian School.
— Martin Schongauer. — The School of Augsburg. — The School of Nuremburg.
— Albert Diirer and his Pupils. — Holbein. — Lucas Cranach. — The School of
Alsace. — Mathias Griinewald. — Hans Baldung Grien. — Joos von Cleve. —
Barthel Bruyn. — The Extinction of National Art in Germany.
XXL— THE ITALIAN DECADENCE AND THE SPANISH SCHOOL . 217
The Phenomenon of Artistic Decadence. — The Decline of Art in Italy and its
Causes. — The Jesuit Style. — Originality checked by Excessive Admiration of
the Great Renaissance Artists. — The Influence of the Decadent Italian Schools
on France and Spain. — The Mannerists. — The Carracci. — The Frescoes in the
Farnese Palace. — Albano, Domenichino, Guido, Guercino. — Guido's Religious
Types. — Caravaggio and his School. — Pietro da Cortona and Luca Giordano.
— The Neapolitan School. — Salvator Rosa and Bernini. — Sassoferrato. — The
Allori. — Carlo Dolci. — Ribera and his Influence on the Spanish School. —
Morales. — The School of Seville. — Herrera and Zurbaran. — Montanez and
Alonzo Cano. — Velasquez. — His Technical Supremacy. — The Modern Cult of
Velasquez. — His Relations with the Spanish Court. — The Historical Signifi
cance of his Works. — The Impersonal Character of his Art. — Murillo. — His
Qualities as a Colourist. — His Interpretation of Spanish Religious Sentiment. —
Goya. — The Unimpaired Vigour of Modern Art in Spain.

CONTENTS
PAGE
XXII.— ART IN THE NETHERLANDS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 230
The Revolt of the Netherlands.— The Separation of Dutch and Flemish Schools.
— The Character of Dutch Art determined by Social Conditions. — The Non-
literary Quality of Dutch Art. — Frans Hals. — Adriaen Brouwer and Adriaen
van Ostade. — The Ruisdaels. — Rembrandt. — His Life and Work. — The
Originality of his Art. — His Etchings. — Masters of the Second Rank. — The
Decline of Dutch Art under Italian Influences. — Flemish Art. — Rubens. — The
Fecundity of his Genius. — Jordaens. — Van Dyck. — David Teniers.
XXIII.— THE ART OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY IN FRANCE 245
The Imitation of Italian Art in France. — Jean Cousin. — Philippe de Champaigne.
— Jaques Callot. — Simon Vouet. — The Frigidity of French Art in the XVIIth
Century. — Le Brun, Nicolas Poussin. — Le Sueur. — Jouvenet. — Claude Lorrain.
— Hippolyte Rigaud. — Largilliere. — Mignard. — Moliere the Apologist of
Academic Art. — The Sculptors of the Grand Siecle: Guillain, Girardon, the
Coustous, and Coysevox. — Puget. — The Industrial Arts under Louis XIV. —
The Foundation of the Gobelins. — Boulle and Caffieri. — The Decadence of
French Art at the Close of Louis XIV's Reign.
XXIV.— FRENCH ART IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.— THE
RISE OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL . 254
The Emancipation of Art after the Death of Louis XIV. — The School of
Watteau. — The Feminine Element in XVIIIth Century Art. — Coypel, Van
Loo, Lagrenee. — Raphael Mengs. — Antoine Watteau. — Lancret and Pater. —
Boucher. — Fragonard. — The Classical Reaction. — Winckelmann. — Piranesi.
— The so-called Empire Style originated under Louis XV. — Vien and David.
— Diderot's Salons. — Chardin and Greuze. — The French Portraitists of the
XVIIIth Century: Maurice Quentin La Tour, Nattier, Tocque, Madame
Vigee Le Brun. — Eighteenth Century Sculpture. — Falconet, Pigalle, Houdon.
— The "Boudoir" Sculptors. — Clodion. — Canova. — The English School. —
Its Tardy Fruition. — Foreign Painters working in England. — Hogarth the
First Representative English Painter. — The Great English Portraitists of the
XVIIIth Century. — The English School of Landscape. — Its Influence in other
Countries.
XXV.— ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . . 269
David the Autocrat of French Art. — His Contemporaries, Guerin, Gerard,
Girodet, Gros. — Prudhon. — Ingres. — Gericault. — Delacroix. — The Rise of
Romanticism. — The Eclectics, Paul Delaroche, Scheffer, Flandrin, Cabanel,
etc.— Bouguereau.— The Military Painters, Charlet and Raffet— Meissonier.
— Detaille and Neuville.— The Painters of Oriental Subjects, Decamps, etc.—
The Barbizon School. — Corot and Millet. — The Realists, Courbet and Manet.
— The Impressionists and Pleinairisles. — The Symbolists: Moreau and
Baudry. — Puvis de Chavannes. — The Modern Belgian School. — The Modern
German School. — The Predominance of French Influences. — England alone
Independent.— The English School of the XlXth Century.— The Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood. — Sculpture in the XlXth Century. — The Growing
Internationalism of Art. — A Forecast.

*#* The publishers are asked by the author to make the following emendation, which
unfortunately reached them too late for insertion in text, on p. 38: "The eastern pediment
contains only figures in repose; in the western pediment, they are nearly all in motion.
Pausanias, who described the temple of Olympia, attributed the eastern pediment to
Paeonius of Mende (Thrace), and the western pediment to Alcamenes, who, according to
another text, was a native of Lemnos. A Greek copy of a head of Hermes by Alcamenes,
authenticated by an inscription, has recently been excavated at Pergamum, and seems to
prove that, as had been already suggested, the Alcamenes of the Olympian pediment was
an older artist of the same name, and not the pupil of Phidias. A Nike' by Paeonius was
discovered at Olympia; and may be the work of the artist to whom we owe the eastern
pediment of the temple."

&.SJ./J

—y-HWftn -iTiffHf*1IHfiii"'iiir-i«- --"Iir' T- 

BAS-P.ELIEE, THE ACROPOLIS, ATHENS.
Fourth Century B.C.

THE ORIGIN OF ART
Art a Social Phenomenon. — The Art of the Savage and of the Child akin. — Primitive
Manifestations of the Artistic Instinct. — Art in the Quaternary Period. — The Art of
the Reindeer Hunters. — Prehistoric Paintings in Cave Dwellings. — The Caves of
Perigord and of the Pyrenees.— The Magic Element in Primitive Works of Art.

Human industry is the outcome of
need, or as the proverb has it, necessity
is the mother of invention. From the
first dawn of humanity, man was
obliged to fashion tools, weapons, and
clothing, to provide himself with
shelter against the fury of the elements
and the attacks of wild beasts. He
was industrious of necessity before he
became an artist by choice.
A work of art differs in one essential
characteristic from those products of
human activity which supply the im
mediate wants of life. Let us consider
a palace, a picture. The palace might
be merely a very large house, and yet
provide a satisfactory shelter. Here,
the element of art is superadded to

that of utility. In a statue, a picture,
utility is no longer apparent. The
element of art is isolated.
This element, sometimes accessory,
sometimes isolated, is itself a product
of human activity, but of an activity
peculiarly free and disinterested, the
object of which is not to satisfy an
immediate need, but to evoke a senti
ment, a lively emotion — admiration,
curiosity, sometimes even terror.
Art, in whatever degree it may
manifest itself, appears to us under
the dual aspect of a luxury and a
diversion. Its object being the evocation of
sentiment in others, art is .primarily a
social phenomenon. Man fashions a
B

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

tool for his own use, but he decorates
it to please his fellow-men, or to excite
their admiration.
No society, however rudimentary,
has altogether ignored art. It is to
be found in embryo in the strange
tattooed devices that cover the body
of the savage, as also in his efforts to
give an agreeable shape to the handle
of his hatchet or of his knife.
The study of primitive art may be
carried on in two ways: by the obser
vation of living savages, or by exami
nation of the relics of primaeval savages
found buried in the soil. It is inter
esting to find that the results of the two
methods are, on the whole, identical.
Art manifests itself first in the desire
for symmetry, which is analogous to
the rhythm of poetry and music, and
the taste for colour, not so arranged
as to produce images, but applied or
exhibited to please the eye. It goes
on to trace ornaments composed of
straight or curved, parallel or broken
lines. Man next attempts to reproduce
the animals that surround him, first in
the round, afterwards in relief and by
means of drawing; finally he essays,
though timidly, the imitation of the
human figure and of vegetation. This
suggestion of evolution may be veri
fied by observing children, who, in our
civilised society, offer a parallel with
primitive savagery. A child delights
successively in symmetry, colour, the
juxtaposition and interlacement of
lines. When he begins to draw, his
first scrawls are the silhouettes of
animals, which interest him much
more than his fellow-creatures; it is.
not until later that he draws men and
plants. A science born in the nineteenth cen
tury, prehistoric archaeology, has re

vealed to us the fruits of human indus
try at a period" prodigiously remote,
centuries anterior to the building of
the pyramids of Egypt and the palaces
of the Babylonian kings.
Geologists have given the name
quaternary period to this epoch, be
cause it was the last of the four great
geological periods. The aspect of the
earth was very different to that it wears
at present. To mention but one or
two divergencies, France was not then
separated from England by the Straits
of Dover, nor Sicily from Italy by the

.;'7'7

FIG. I. — ENGRAVED BONE.
From the Caverne de la Madeleine, Dordogne.
(British Museum.)

Straits of Messina. Sweden, Denmark,
and Scotland were buried under a
sheet of polar ice; the glaciers of the
Alps were of vast extent; one de
scended as far as Lyons.
In the quaternary period, horses,
cattle, and goats already existed both
in England and in France, but as
wild animals; man had not domesti
cated them, and ignorant of agri
culture, he lived solely on the fruits
of plants and the spoils of hunting
and fishing. In addition to the
species which still persist, there were
others which have disappeared, such
as the mammoth and the rhinoceros

THE ORIGIN OF ART

with closed nostrils; and others again
which now -exist only in warmer cli
mates than ours, such as the hippo
potamus, the hyaena, and the lion, or in
colder latitudes, such as the reindeer.
Man, armed with clubs, flint axes, and
horn daggers, contrived to nourish
himself on the flesh of cattle, horses,
and reindeer, which he took in snares,
or hunted down in the chase. Armed
with a harpoon of bone or horn, he
also killed fish, and so varied his diet.
The quaternary period lasted for
thousands of years, coming to an end
some 8,000 or 10,000 years before the
Christian era, according to the most
moderate calculations of the geolo
gists. It closed when the climate, the
fauna, and the flora of Europe had
become much what they are to-day,
when the last reindeer of the Alps and
Pyrenees had disappeared after the last
mammoth. We are beginning to acquire some
exact knowledge of the phases of this
long period: we know that there was
an earlier one, when the climate was
hot and very damp; a later one, when
it was cold and dry.
During the first phase, man, hunter
or fisher, lived on the banks of the
rivers, then much broader than now.
He made flint axes which have been
found in thousands in the valleys of
the Thames, of the Somme, the
Marne, &c, deep beneath the sands
piled up by rivers in flood. Many of
these axes, triangular or oval in shape,
are carved with great dexterity by
means of small chips flaked off the
stone, and show a regularity of outline
which testifies to the delight of primi
tive man in symmetry. It seems prob
able that the men of this period lived
in the open air, or in huts made of the

branches of trees; no traces of their
habitations have been found.
Our knowledge of the second period

FIG. 2. — MAMMOTH ENGRAVED ON WALL.
(Cave of Combarelles, Dordogne.)
is more abundant. The reindeer, non
existent in the earlier phase, became
as numerous as horses or kine, fur
nishing man not only with succulent
meat, but with horn, bone, and ten
dons, which lent themselves to the
first essays of industry and art. Dag
gers, harpoons, stilettoes, and various
implements made of reindeer horn
have been unearthed; and also carved
reindeer-horns and bones, covered
with reliefs and drawings.
The man who lived on reindeer's
flesh had remarked the chromatic
qualities of certain earths, more par
ticularly of ochre. He was fond of
vivid colours, and it is probable that
like the savages of our own times he
painted his body. But he did much
more than this. On the walls and
roofs of the caves where he sought
shelter from the cold (which at that
period obtained for nine months of the
year), he amused himself by engraving
and painting animals with extraordi
nary dexterity. During the last few
years, prehistoric paintings of the
highest interest have been discovered B a

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

in many of the caves of Perigord and
the Pyrenees.
In those caves of France, where it
has been possible to observe the
superposition of the various strata of
civilisation, it has been found that
figures in the round, carved in stone,
or in the bones of mammoth and rein
deer, lay buried more deeply, and are
consequently earlier, than those carved
in relief or drawn. Drawings made
with a style, the products of this art in

FIG. 3. — BISON ENGRAVED AND PAINTED ON A
WALL.
(Cave of Fond de Gaume, Dordogne.)
Revue de I'Ecole d'Antkropologie, July, 1902.
Fe"Ux Alcan, Paris.

its greatest perfection, are contempo
rary with paintings, which show the
same characteristics, and deserve no
less admiration.
Of these characteristics, the most
striking is realism. Fancy seems to
be absolutely excluded; whether rep
resented alone or in groups, the
animals are depicted with a correct
ness to which we find no parallel in
the art of the modern savage. The
next characteristic is sobriety. There
are no useless details; certain animal
forms of this period, either engraved
or painted, will bear comparison with

the fine animal-studies of modern art
ists. Finally — and this is perhaps the
most extraordinary trait of all — the
artist of the reindeer age is in love
with life and movement; he likes to
represent his animals in lively and pic
turesque attitudes; he seizes and re
produces their movements with ex
traordinary precision.
It must, of course, be understood
that these eulogies do not apply to
all the works of art of the cave-
dwellers. They apply to perhaps
thirty or forty objects, carved, en
graved, or painted, among the hun
dreds that have been collected and re
produced. Then, as always, there were
gifted artists and mediocre artists.
But in this rapid sketch of the art of
all ages, I must confine myself to the
mention of masterpieces, and the mas
terpieces of the reindeer period are
.worthy of the name.
How and where was this art de
veloped? It is evident that its finest
productions were the final outcome of
a long progression. The man of the
quaternary period, like the modern
man, was perhaps born with the artistic
instinct, but he was not born an artist.
Many generations had to pass before e
he had learnt to draw the outline of
an animal correctly with his sharpened .
flint, before his first essays, his first
scrawls, took on the dignity of true
works of art. Our knowledge of this
period is as yet far too restricted to
enable us to trace the stages of this
development. It is indeed possible,
and even probable, that it began in
another part of Europe, for the rein
deer, which no longer existed in
France in the warm phase of the
quaternary period, must then have
abounded in the more northern re-

THE ORIGIN OF ART

gions, and there is every reason to sup
pose that the ancestors of the reindeer
hunters of Perigord and the Pyrenees
flourished together with their favourite
game. The evolution of art, however,
cannot have made much progress in
this primitive field; and, no doubt, it
was in the basin of the Garonne that
it was accelerated and accomplished.
When the cold period came to an end,
the reindeer disappeared almost sud
denly, and was replaced by the stag.
At this epoch, which marks the close
of the quaternary period, the drawings
become rare and finally disappear
altogether. The civilisation of the
reindeer-hunters seems to have died
out, or to have migrated with the
reindeer towards the north of Europe.
But, so far, no trace of it has come to
light, nor has it been possible to estab
lish any definite connection between
the art of the reindeer-hunters and
that of civilisations of great antiquity,
though certainly more recent than
theirs, such as those of Egypt and
Babylonia. Thus we find that the art of quatern
ary France forms a clearly defined
phase in the very genesis of art
history. We may trace the successive
apparition of the desire for symmetry,
of sculpture, bas-relief, engraving, and
painting: of all the loftier forms of
art, architecture alone is absent.
The masterpiece of this phase of art
is perhaps the group of reindeer (Fig.
4) engraved on an antler discovered
in the cave of Lorthet (H. Pyrenees).
First we see the hind feet of a rein
deer which is galloping away. Next
comes another galloping reindeer, in
an attitude first revealed to us in
modern times by instantaneous pho
tography as applied to the analysis of

rapid movement. An artist of our
own day, Aime Morot, first made use
of the knowledge gleaned from photo
graphs, and reproduced this action in
his horses. It was unknown to ali the
artists of intermediate ages. The
second reindeer is followed by a doe,
turning her head to bell and call her
fawn; her action again is like that of
the deer in front of her. Between the
animals the artist drew some salmon,
as if to fill up the empty spaces; above
the last reindeer, he placed two point
ed lozenges. It has been suggested
that these constitute a signature. But

FIG. 4. — ENGRAVED REINDEER BONE.
Grotte de Lorthet, Hautes Pyrenees.
(Museum, St. Germain.)
Anthropologie, 1894. (Masson, Paris.)
what is the meaning of the salmon?
This association of the great river-fish
with the reindeer is doubtless due to
some religious idea; the artist com
bined the two species which formed the
principal nourishment of his tribe or
clan. It is, in fact, to be noted that all
the animals represented by quaternary
art are of the comestible kinds, which
savages engraved or painted in order
to attract them by a sort of magic sym
pathy. Civilised man makes hyper
bolic use of the expression " the
magic of art." The primitives actually
believed in it.

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 5. — A HORSE GALLOPING.
(From instantaneous photographs.)

In a cave in the department of the
Indre, a slab of schist was recently
discovered, decorated with a galloping
reindeer, another example of the taste
for movement, combined with pre
cision and sobriety of outline, which
characterised the best artists of this
period. Of their paintings, the finest, those
in the cave of Altamira near Santander
in Spain, were only copied in 1902,
and have not yet been published. I
must therefore confine my remarks to
the more accessible specimens found
in the caves of Perigord, some of them
of the deepest interest.
In one of these caves was found a
stone lamp, ornamented with a beauti
ful incised representation of a reindeer.
The artists of the period must have
made use of such lamps when graving
and painting their decorations, for
the ornamented portions of the caves
are quite dark, even in broad day
light. Among all these surprising dis
coveries, this seems to be the most
amazing ! These paintings, consisting

sometimes of over a hundred animals
of large dimensions, could only have
been executed and were only visible
by artificial light! Why then did
their authors take the trouble to
execute them? Was it only to please
the eye of the reindeer-hunter, when,
retiring to his cavern at nightfall,
he made his evening meal on the
spoils of the chase, by the dim light of
smoking lamps filled with oil from
the fat of deer?
It is impossible to accept such an
hypothesis. I have already spoken of
the magic element in the works of art
carved, engraved, or painted by primi
tive man. They show us the first steps
of humanity in the path which led to the
worship of animals (as in Egypt), then
to that of idols in human shape (as in
Greece), and finally to that of divinity
as a purely spiritual conception.
The study of the birth of religion is
interwoven with that of the origin of
art. Born simultaneously, art and
religion were closely connected for
long ages; their affinity is still evident
enough to the thinking mind.

THE ORIGIN OF ART

I.— BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Alex. Bertrand, La Gaule avant les Gaulois, 2nd ed., Paris, 1891 (with an Appendix
by E. Piette on the Reindeer Age and the Pyrenean caverns explored by him); G. and
A. de Mortillet, Le Musee Prehistorique, 2nd ed., Paris, 1903 (illustrated); S. Reinach,
Alluvions et Cavernes, Paris, 1889; E. Cartailhac, La France Prehistorique, Paris, 1889;
M. Hoernes, Der diluviale Mensch in Europa, 1903.
For the paintings recently discovered in the,caves by Messrs. Riviere, Capitan, Breuil,
and Cartailhac, see the Revue Mensuelle de VEcole d' Anthropologic, 1902, and V 'Anthro
pologic, 1902 and 1903. For an explanation of these works, cf. S. Reinach, VArt et la
Magie {Anthropologic, 1903, p. 257).
On primitive Art in general: E. Grosse, Les Debuts de VArt, French translation,
Paris, 1902.
On the Art of the Child: J. Sully, Etudes sur VEnfance, French translation, Paris,
• 1898. On the idea of Art and Esthetics: V. Cherbuliez, VArt et la Nature, 2nd ed., Paris,
1892; G. Seailles, Essai sur le Genie dans VArt, 2nd ed., Paris, 1897; M. Guyau, VArt
au point de vue Sociologique, 5th ed., Paris, 1901; A. Fouillee, La Morale, I' Art et la Re
ligion d'apres Guyau, 3rd ed., Paris, 1901; K. Lange, Das Wesen der Kunst, 2 vols., Berlin,
1901.

II

ART IN THE POLISHED STONE AND
BRONZE AGES
The Extinction of the Art of the Reindeer Hunters. — Primitive Dwellings and Flint
Implements. — Lacustrine Dwellings and Polished Stone Implements. — Dolmens,
Menhirs, Cromlechs. — Domestication of Animals and Culture of Cereals. — First Use
of Metals. — The Bronze Age. — Tumuli of Gavrinis, Morbihan, and New Grange,
Ireland. — The Absence of Animal Forms in the Decoration of the Bronze -Age. —
High Degree of Excellence in Linear Decoration of this Period. — Stonehenge. — The
Second Stone Age in Egypt. — Pre-Pharaonic Art: Painted Vases discovered at Abydos
and Negadah (Upper Egypt). — Primitive Art in the Grecian Archipelago. — Babylon
and Egypt the Precursors of Classic Art.

The extinction of the civilisation of
the reindeer-hunters seems to have
been brought about by a change of cli
mate. Some geological phenomenon
hitherto unexplained caused a cessa
tion of the cold, which was succeeded
by torrential rains and damp warmth.
The reindeer, for which the present
climate of St. Petersburg is too hot,
disappeared or migrated; the caves,
invaded by streams of water, and
often swept by the rivers in flood,
became uninhabitable; vast plains
were transformed into swamps. The
population of France was not, in
deed, annihilated, but it certainly
diminished very greatly, the reduction
being brought about partly by the
change of climate, partly by emigra
tion. The civilisation of the reindeer
age disappeared. When we find traces
of a new civilisation in France, it is
marked by a poverty and coarse
ness that reveal the catastrophes
among which it was brought forth.
A new humanity may almost be said
to have come into being; and if that
of the quaternary age had required

thousands of years to evolve true
works of art, some thirty or forty cen
turies had again to pass before works
of art worthy of the name were pro
duced in France.
The first buildings of the present
period (using the term in its geologi
cal sense) are the camps or remains of
villages, where the chief evidences of
human activity are the flint impie-

r

flw^T

FIG. 6. — DOLMEN OF KORKONN0.
(Morbihan, Brittany.)
ments of a primitive type known as
celts, and fragments of coarse pottery
with incised ornaments. These latter

THE POLISHED STONE AND BRONZE AGES

mark an industrial progress, for the
artists of the reindeer age knew noth
ing of pottery. To a later epoch, some

of the same period as the most ancient
of the lacustrine dwellings, for in both
polished stone axes are numerous,

FIG. 7. — ROWS OF STONE BLOCKS AT CARNAC.
(Morbihan, Brittany.)

4,000 or 3,000 years before Christ, be
long the first traces of those encamp
ments built upon piles on the banks
of lakes in Switzerland and France,
and known as lacustrine dwellings.
These were used as places of refuge
and as workshops. The civilisation
of the lake-dwellers is familiar to us,
for thousands of obj'ects fashioned by
them have been discovered embedded
in the mud. Among these, in addition
to hand-made pottery, are hatchets of
polished stone, sometimes very elegant
in shape, arms, tools, and pendants;
but not a single work of art has come
to light.
This polished stone period to which
the lake-dwellings belong, was also the
age when in other regions of Europe,
notably in Brittany, the Cevennes,
England, Denmark, and Sweden, men
began to raise those huge tombs in
undressed stone known as dolmens
(Fig. 6), the obelisks known as men
hirs, the circles of rough stone known
as cromlechs, and long lines of mas
sive blocks, such as those of Carnac
(Fig. 7). The dolmens are indubitably

whereas there is scarcely a trace of
metals. The phase, of human history on
which we are now touching is marked
by two innovations of the highest
importance: the culture of cereals
and the do
mestication of
animals. Car
bonised cereals
and heaps of
manure have
been found in
the mud of the
lake-dwellings, and it is more
than probable
that the civili
sation of the
dolmen -build
ers was analo
gous to that
of the lake-
dwellers. We
cannot now in
quire into the question how man first
conceived the idea of domesticating
animals, sowing corn, barley, millet,

FIG. 8. — CARVED MENHIR.
PRIMITIVE STATUE.
(Saint Sernin, Aveyron.)

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

and flax; it will be sufficient to point
out that these immense advances in
civilisation were made before the dis
covery of metals.
The construction of lake-dwellings
and of dolmens continued even after
man had begun to make use of gold
and copper, the first two metals he
knew. A little later, the discovery of
tin, and some happy accident which
led to the idea of fusing tin and cop
per, placed a new metal, bronze, at
man's disposal, and thus gave a consid
erable impetus to material civilisation.
Lake-dwellings of the age of bronze
have been discovered, the axes, swords,
and metal ornaments of which bear
witness to the advanced stage of tech
nical proficiency reached by their
inhabitants. But in the dolmens, only
very simple bronze objects, such
as beads, buttons, and knives have
been found; the practice of burying
the dead in dolmens must therefore
have been discontinued before the
abandonment of the lake-dwellings
(B.C. 1000?).
The total absence of pure works of
art at this period is a subject of much
surprise to archaeologists. If we ex
cept a few wretched figures in terra
cotta, a few menhirs rudely carved
into a semblance of the human form
(Fig. 8), there are no images either of
men or animals. But, on the other
hand, linear decoration is very highly
developed. On the little island of
Gavrinis, off the coast of Morbihan,
rises one of those huge mounds of
earth called tumuli. Inside the tumu
lus is a dolmen, approached by a long
alley bordered with enormous blocks
of granite. These blocks are covered
with elaborate designs, carved with flint
implements, works which must have

cost their authors an infinity of time
and trouble (Fig. 9). We find a few axes
introduced among the ornament, but
nothing resembling any living creature.
There is a similar monument in Ire
land, at New Grange, near Dublin.
Here the walls are covered with de
signs very like those at Gavrinis, and
perhaps older. In Denmark, Sweden,
Spain, and Portugal there are other
large dolmens, in all of which represen
tations of human and animal life are
likewise conspicuous by their absence.
The existence of art in the age of

FIG. 9. — ENGRAVED GRANITE BLOCKS IN THE
COVERED ALLEY, GAVRINIS.
(Morbihan, Brittany.)

bronze is manifested by the graceful
form of such objects as spears, daggers,
swords, bracelets, vases, etc., and also
by the purely linear ornament with
which they are embellished. This
ornament consists of dog-toothing,
triangles, zigzags, rectangles, dotted
bands, and concentric circles, showing
a variety and ingenuity of combination
that bear witness to the decorative
instinct of the potters and bronze-
workers of the age (Fig. 10). But the
decoration is invariably and exclusively
linear, as if some religious law, some
fear of maleficent sorcery, had for-

IO

THE POLISHED STONE AND BRONZE AGES

bidden the representation of men and
animals. In Western Europe this was
the case for centuries, with some un-

FIG. IO. — -BRONZE BRACELET.
Found at Reallon, Hautes Alpes.
(Museum, St. Germain.)
important exceptions, even after the
introduction of iron tools and weap
ons. The utmost achieved by the
Gauls before' Csesar's conquest of Gaul
was the execution of a few animals in
bronze, and of a few more or less
shapeless figures on coins. Before a
new plastic art arose among them, the
Gauls, who excelled alike as workers
in metal and in enamel, had to become
the pupils of Roman artists, themselves
disciples of the Greeks. In Great
Britain, as in the regions now included
in the German Empire, it was also
Roman conquest or Roman commerce
which led to the tardy adoption of
figure-ornament. Sweden and Den
mark only began to produce it towards
the period of the downfall of the
Empire, though the inhabitants of
these countries had continuously
manufactured weapons, ornaments, and
vases of metal, decorated with an
astonishing variety of linear motives
(Fig. n). All this was art, for it was in

the nature of luxury and amusement;
but it was incomplete art, for the imita
tion of living nature had no place in it.
Dolmens and menhirs mark the be
ginnings of architecture, but of archi
tecture scarcely worthy of the name,
for decoration plays hardly any part
in it, and the elements of construction
can claim no excellence other than that
of a massive solidity. The only monu
ment of this nature which has any
artistic character is the circle of tri-
liths, each consisting of two uprights
with a lintel, at Stonehenge on Salis
bury Plain, but the blocks of stone are
hewn, and Stonehenge does not appar
ently date from a more remote period
than the bronze age (Fig. 12). After
this age, the only stone buildings of
Western Europe were walls of defence;
the dwellings and even the temples
were of wood. It was the 'Roman Con-

FIG. II. — BRONZE PLAQUE.
Found in Sweden.
(Stockholm Museum.)
quest, again, which gave the Gauls the
principles and the first models of
architecture.

II

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Thus we see that the genius of the
arts, after having flourished in France
for several thousands of years before
the Christian era, underwent a long
eclipse of at least forty centuries,
giving place to a decorative sentiment
that excluded the representation of
living things.
This was, happily, not the case on
the eastern shores of the Mediter
ranean. Stone axes like those of Saint-
Acheul have been discovered ip Egypt
and on the coast of Asia; but so far,
we have no evidences that art had

admirably worked, articles of luxury,
and personal ornaments of hippopota
mus-ivory and schist, and vases of
hard stone. Before the epoch of the
Pharaohs, which was also that of the
introduction of metals, Egypt, though
destitute of architecture, boasted a
very flourishing industry, which did
not hesitate to essay the representation
of human figures, animals, and plants,
in painting, in terra cotta, in ivory, and
in schist. It is true that these essays
are extremely rude, and that the per
sonages drawn or engraved by the

FIG. 12. — STONEHENGE.
(Photo, by Spooner.)

developed there in the quaternary age,
nor do we find there traces of anything
analogous to the marvellous drawings
of the reindeer-hunters. On the other
hand, the second stone age in Egypt
was marked by a civilisation ,no less
consummate than rapidly achieved.
Of the corresponding period in Baby
lon we know little as yet; but thanks
to the recent researches of Messrs.
Morgan, Amelineau, and Flinders
Petrie in Egypt, we know that the
Egyptians, before they had begun
to use bronze and iron, produced
thousands of fictile vases decorated
with paintings, large flint-knives most

Egyptians of the stone age resemble
the sketches of savages; but the Egyp
tian savage possessed a manual dexter
ity superior to that of his western con
temporaries, and, for him, art was not
confined to linear decoration.
Let us examine the flint-knife, orna
mented with a sheet of engraved gold,
in the Museum of Cairo. Gold, which
is found in its raw state, was known in
the stone age; it was, perhaps, this
metal which suggested the discovery
and employment of others. The style
of the engraved animals — serpents,
lions, and antelopes — is totally differ
ent from that which obtained in the

12

THE POLISHED STONE AND BRONZE AGES

Egypt of the Pharaohs; but it is
already a style which aims at the sug
gestion of life and movement (Fig. 13).

FIG. 13. — FLINT-KNIFE WITH A GOLD SHEATH
(Museum, Cairo.)
Morgan. Recherches sur les Origine* de V
vol. i. (Leroux, Paris.)
This object, however, is exceptional
in quality. To get a general idea of
primitive Egyptian art, we must study
the painted vases which have been
discovered in large numbers in the
burial-places of Abydos and Negadah
(Upper Egypt). Some of these are
decorated with paintings of ostriches,
and of Nile boats, with flags fore and
aft; there are also human figures in
attitudes expressive of adoration or
distress. Other examples of these
gestures are to be seen in the terra
cotta figures at Negadah, which
appear to be tattooed all over. From
the same necropolis we have little
figures in ivory and in schist, dating,
no doubt, from about the year
4500 B.C.
In the deeper strata of the city of
Troy, excavated by Schliemann, as

also in the more archaic tombs of
the Archipelago, vases and primitive
figurines have been discovered which
may be compared to those found in
Egypt, though they are not in any
sense imitations. Here, also, the civil
isation of the stone age, though not
strictly speaking artistic, reveals ele
ments other than those of the purely
decorative style. On the other hand,
the eastern shores of the Mediterra
nean did not, during the bronze age,
show a development of geometric dec
oration equal to that achieved in the
west and north of Europe. A parallel
may be found in the fact that Mussul
man art, which refrained from the
representation of the human figure,
reached a higher stage of development
in the science of ornament than the
western art of the Middle Ages.
We have now come to the '.period
verging on the year 4000 .b.c. At
this epoch, Babylon, and Egypt took
the lead in civilisation, and prepared
the way for the splendour of classic
art. From about the year 2500 b.c. a
new centre of activity was formed in

FIG. 14. — PAINTINGS ON PRIMITIVE EGYPTIAN
VASES.
(Museum, Cairo.)
Morgan. Recherches sur les Origines de VEgypte,
vol. ii. (Leroux, Paris.)
the Archipelago, and developed with
extraordinary rapidity. After a tem
porary eclipse about- the year iooob.c.
Greece entered upon her triumphal

13

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
progress towards the art of Phidias and Assyria, and to dawn again, after
and Praxiteles. Greece had to submit a fresh eclipse, in Western Europe,
to Rome, and Rome to conquer part which, from the year iooo a.d. became
of the ancient world, before Italy and and has remained the home of art.
the west of Europe at last participated This rapid survey will have indicated
in the radiance of this manifestation. the divisions of my subject, and pre-
It was destined to die out in Greece, pared my readers for the develop-
as it had already died out in Egypt ments I propose to trace.
II.— BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Works by A. Bertrand and G. de Mortillet, given in bibliography of Chap. I. (lacusr
trine dwellings, dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs). For the carved menhirs (Aveyron), see
Hermet, Bulletin du Comite, i8g8, p. 500.
For the Bronze Age in Western and Northern Europe: O. Montelius, Chronologie
der aeltesten Bronzezeit, Brunswick, igoo, and Les Temps prehistoriques en Suede, French
translation by S. Reinach, Paris, 1895; La Chronologie prehistorique en France (Anthro
pologic, igoi, p. 609); Orient und Europa, igoi; Die aelteren Kulturperioden im Orient
und in Europa, vol. i., Stockholm, 1903; M. Hoernes, Urgeschichte der bildenden Kunst
in Europa, Vienna, 1898.
For Prehistoric Egypt: J. de Morgan, Recherches sur les Origines de I'Egypte, •> vols.,
Paris, i8g6, 1897; W. Budge, Egypt in the Neolithic and Arclyiic Periods, London, 1902;
J. Capart, Les Debuts de I' Art in ligypte, Brussels, 1904; S. Reinach, V Anthropologic,
1897, p. 327.
For the Prehistoric Civilisation of the Archipelago: Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de
VArt, vol. vi., Paris, 1894; S. Reinach, V Anthropologic, 1899, p. 513; W. Ridgway, The
Early Age of Greece, vol. i., Cambridge, 1901.

14

Ill

EGYPT, CHALD^A, AND PERSIA
Art in Egypt under the Pharaohs.— The Sa'ite Revival.— The Characteristics of Egyptian
ArV~7ESyPtian Temples. — Karnak. — Egyptian Statues, Figurines, Bas-reliefs, and
Paintings in Tombs. — The Scribe in the Louvre. — Conventions of Egyptian Art. —
Lange's "Law of Frontality." — Egyptian Decorative Motives. — The Idea of Duration
dominant in Egyptian Art. — Chaldaean Art: The Monuments of Tello, near Bas-
sorah. — Assyrian Art: The Bas-reliefs of the Palace of Nineveh. — Assyrian Palaces. — ¦
Type of Assyrian Temples. — Persian Art: The Palaces of Susa and Persepolis. — The
Frieze of Archers in the Louvre. — Hittite Art based on that of Assyria. — The Phoe
nicians: Purely Industrial Character of their Art. — Jewish Art derived from that of
Assyria. — The Antiquity of Indian and Chinese Art a Delusion. — Both Derived
from Greece.

The art of historic Egypt, the Egypt
of the Pharaohs, began about the year
4500 b.c. The so-called Ancient Em
pire lasted from about this date to
the year 3000 B.C. : the MMdk--&*k-
pire, destroyed by the incursion of the
shepherds of the desert, or Hycsos,
from 3000 to 2000 b.c. and the New
Empire ivom~V76o to nooT This was
succeeded b"y~TTong period of decad
ence, only temporarily arrested, from
_Z20_»ta_£2,5 B.C. by a brilliant Renais
sance under the Pharaohs of.Sais (Sa'ite
period). In 525, Egypt was conquered
by the Persians, in 332 by Alexander,
and then successively by the Romans,
the Arabs, the Turks, the French and
the English. She has never regained
her independence since 525 b.c. /But
in our own times, she has achieved a
prosperity almost equal to that of her
period of ancient splendour.
The history of Egyptian art which
we are able to trace in existing monu
ments, is marked by certain invariable
characteristics; on the one hand, a
technical skill that has remained un
surpassed throughout the ages; on the
bther, an absolute incapacity to throw

aside archaic conventions and rise to
liberty and beauty.
First among the nations of the earth,
the Egyptians raised great buildings
of stone, with vast halls upheld by
columns, lighted laterally from above.
Such is the great hall of the temple
of Karnak at Thebes (Fig. 15), with

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-ii'tj  A'Af\ A,k
¦:¦['¦¦ '!l. JfHM.T ' 1 ' . -fj
^AffmM

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T<Sr-ii

FIG. 15. — HYPOSTYLE OE COLUMNED HALL OF THE
TEMPLE OF KARNAK.
(Reconstructed by Ch. Chipiez.)

its 134 columns, some of them nearly
70 feet high (New Empire). Egypt
boasted many temples more imposing
than the Athenian Parthenon; but
these massive buildings are only
impressive because of their bulk;
they are decorated without taste or

is

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 16. — PYRAMID OF CHEOPS, WITH THE GREAT
SPHINX. 4
(Near Cairo.)

sobriety. The most obvious defect
of the Egyptian temple is that it is
too long for its height, and that the
exterior shows too much wall and too
few apertures. In this respect the
Egyptian temple is the antithesis of
the Gothic church; in the one we have
an excess of massive surface, in the
other an excess of empty space; Greek
art found the just mean and kept to it.
Diodorus Siculus, a Greek his
torian who flourished shortly before
the Christian era, says that the
Egyptians looked upon their houses
as mere places of passage, and
on their tombs as their permanent

FIG. IJ. — EGYPTIAN BAS-RELIEF AT AEYDOS.
lackal-headed Anubis and Falcon-headed Herus.

dwellings. So true is this, that our
knowledge of Egyptian art is derived
mainly from tombs, either the enor
mous pyramids of stone and brick
destined for royalty, or the chapels
built above the ground, and the sepul
chres hewn in the rocks. The tombs
of the rich are adorned inside with
sculpture, paintings, and bas-reliefs.
They are, in fact, temples, of which
the dead per
son was the
divinity. Thousands
of Egyptian
statues have
come down to
us, statues in
stone, bronze,
and terra cotta,
from the colos
sal Sphinx ad-
joining the
great Pyra
mids (Fig. 16)
and the royal
statues of Ip-
samboul, some
60 feet high,
to the tiny fig
urines which
'fill the glass cases of our museums.
These statues represent gods* and god- ',
desses, often with the animal heads
ascribed to them by Egyptian myth
ology, men, women, and children, sing
ly, and in groups, and animals, both
real and fantastic. The bas-reliefs and
paintings present even greater variety ,
of subject. The majority represent
the Pharaonic victories, the intermin
able ceremonial of religious worship,
scenes of daily life, or of the soul's
journey to the land of the dead (Fig.
17). Landscape backgrounds are very

FIG. 18. — WOODEN STATUE
KNOWN AS THE CHEIK EL
BELED (MAYOR OF THE
DISTRICT). (Museum, Cairo.)

16

EGYPT, CHALD^A, AND PERSIA

FIG. Ip. — THE SCRIBE.
(The Louvre.)
frequent; but as the Egyptians had
no knowledge of perspective, their
views of country or of gardens appear
in the guise of maps on the vertical
surfaces, without foreshortening or
differentiation of planes.
On first entering an Egyptian mu
seum, we are struck by the apparent
resemblance between all the figures,
and we wonder that the art of a nation
should have remained so uniform for
i centuries. But a more careful exami-
\ nation, such as may be adequately car
ried on at the British Museum or the
Louvre, at once reveals essential dif
ferences. Under the Ancient Empire,
the figures are shorter and sturdier,
and are more directly inspired by
nature (Fig. 18); the admirable Scribe
in the Louvre, in limestone painted
red, would be a masterpiece, had the
artist, who showed such skill in ren
dering the human form, been able
to give an expression of intellectual
life to the vigorous head (Fig. 19).
From the rise of the Middle Empire,

the figures begin to lengthen, the
modelling to become more flaccid; a
superficial elegance is the accepted
ideal, and the results, though occa
sionally charming (Fig. 20), are more
often superficial and trivial. These
tendencies were still more pronounced
under the New Empire, the aca
demic period of Egyptian art, a
period characterised by extraordi
nary technical skill, subservient to
a conventional style destitute of
character. In the Saite epoch, the
traditions of the Ancient Empire
again prevailed, and culminated j.-
a. national reaction against exotic in
fluences. At this period, Egyptian
art produced masterpieces such as the -
basalt head in the Louvre (Fig. 21),
which, in the realistic perfection of its
modelling, is comparable to the finest
Flemish portraits of the fifteenth cen
tury, Van Eyck's Man with the Pink
and Canon Van de Paele.
Nevertheless, the visitor's first im
pression of monotonous uniformity
finds at least a
partial justification.
Throughout its
long career, Egyp
tian art never suc
ceeded in casting
off the trammels
of certain conven
tions. Conspicuous
among these is what
the Danish a r-
chaeologist, Lange,
called the law of
frontality. All the
figures, standing or
sitting, walking or
motionless, con
front the spectator;
the top of the head,

FIG. 20. — TAKOUSHIT,
AN EGYPTIAN LADY.
(Bronze in the Museum,
Athens.)

17

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the junction of neck and shoulders,
and the centre of the body are on

N

FIG. 21. — BASALT HEAD. SAITE PERIOD.
(The Louvre.)

the same vertical plane; all devia
tion from the vertical column, or,
in other words, any inclination to the
right or to the left, is forbidden. When
several figures are grouped on the
same pedestal, the vertical axes of
their bodies are exactly parallel (Fig.
22). Secondly, all the figures, whether
motionless or walking, rest all their
weight on the soles of their feet; no
Egyptian ever represented a person
resting his weight on one leg, and
touching the ground lightly with the
disengaged foot. The male figures
are nearly always walking, with the left
foot advanced; but the women and
children are in repose, their legs
pressed closely together. In the re
liefs and paintings, with very few
exceptions, the figures are in profile,
but strange to say, the eyes and the
shoulders are turned to the front (Fig.
17). Such a disregard for realities is

striking enough, but it does not end
here. Painting, whether applied to
statues and reliefs, or executed on a
flat surface, is a mere coloration, with
out gradation or fusion of tones, and
without chiaroscuro. Perspective is so
absolutely ignored, that when two per
sons are supposed to be side by side,
the second is generally drawn on top
of the first. Thus Egyptian composi
tions, whether carved or painted,
hardly deserve this name, for they
lack any attempt at arrangement and
symmetry; they consist of a medley
of motives, which bear the same
relation to the grouping of Greek
art as does the driest of chronicles
to history.
After monumental architecture, of
which they set the example, the
greatest gift of the Egyptians to art
was their system of decoration. - Of all
the sculptural types they created, one

FIG. 22. — EGYPTIAN GROUP IN LIMESTONE.
(The Louvre.)
only, that of the Sphinx, or lion with a
human head, has persisted down to our

18

EGYPT, GHALD^A, AND PERSIA

own times (Fig. 23) ; but we. have re
tained, with very slight modification,
the decorative motives borrowed by the

FIG. 23. — EGYPTIAN SPHINX OF PINK GRANITE.
(The Louvre.)
Egyptians from the flora of the Nile,
notably from their two favourite plants,
the lotus and the papyrus. We feel our
selves strangely out of touch with ,'
collection of Egyptian statues and
bas-reliefs, but we greet a group of
Egyptian ornaments almost as familiar
objects (Fig. 24). This is why our
modern goldsmiths and jewellers are
able to draw inspiration from the ad
mirable jewels of ancient Egypt, with
out any unduly archaistic effort.
Summing up the character of
Egyptian art in a word, we might. say
that it represents, above all things,
the idea of duration. Nature has de
creed that all things should persist in
Egypt, from the imperishable granite
of her monuments to the most fragile
objects of wood and stuff, preserved
by the dryness of her climate. But
the Egyptian himself was in love with
the idea of duration. He built gigantic
tombs like the Pyramids, impervious
to the action of long ages, and temples
with columns massive and manifold,
and sloping walls like earthworks. He
embalmed his dead for eternity, plac

ing beside them in the tomb statues
and statuettes of rare material, to serve
them as companions, and in case of
need, to replace them, should their
mummies disappear; he carved and
painted on the walls of tombs and
temples historic, religious, and domes
tic scenes, destined to perpetuate the
memory of the history of the gods, of
the mighty deeds of kings, of the ritual
and familiar life of his day. This idea
of duration naturally engendered a re
spect for the past and for tradition.
Egyptian art was not immobile, for no
living thing is without motion, but it
was fettered by conventions and for
mulae. It achieved liberty only by the
accident of individual inspiration, and
even when it came in contact with

J9

FIG. 24. — EGYPTIAN DECORATION.
Greek art, it persevered in the narrow
path it had marked out for itself.
Did primitive Egypt exercise any
influence upon Chaldsea, or was she
C 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES'

herself influenced by the latter? The
question is open to controversy. Per
haps neither influenced the other. It
is unquestionably the fact that the
most ancient of the works of art dis
covered since 1877 by M. de Sarzec
at Tello, not far from Bassorah in
Lower Chaldasa, examples dating from
between 4000 and 3000 B.C., show no
trace of Egyptian feeling, but contain
all the qualities and defects of Assy
rian art in embryo.
Up to the present time, the art of
the valleys of the Tigris and the
Euphrates is known to us mainly by
two groups of monuments; those of
Tello, which date from very remote
antiquity, and those of Nineveh, the
capital of the Assyrian kings, which
date from the eighth and seventh cen
turies before Christ. The former are
known as Babylonian or Chaldasan

FIG. 25. — THE ARCHITECT OF TELLO.
(The Louvre.)

There are further great numbers of
small objects, notably seals in hard
stone (called cylinders) on which are

engraved mythological or religious
scenes, which reveal the art of Chaldsea
and Assyria at every period of their
history, under the kings of Babylon
and those of Nineveh.
The principal monuments of Chal
dasan art, discovered at the palace of
Tello, are all in the Louvre. They
are bas-reliefs, such as the famous
Stela of the Vultures, which represents
Eannadou, king of Sirpourla, exulting
over enemies whom vultures are de
vouring, and the great statues of black
diorite, eight of which bear the name of
Goudea, Prince of Sirpourla (Fig. 25).
The statues are not only astonishing by
virtue of their workmanship, to which
technical difficulties seem mere child's
play; they reveal a particular con
ception " of the human form, directly
pposed to that of the Egyptians.
Ahereas the Egyptian sculptor loved
to attenuate details, to soften his
[modelling, to elongate his figures, the
' Chaldasan artist preferred sturdy ro
bust types, with salient muscles. and
broad shoulders^^The bas-reliefs of
the palace of Nineveh, though later by
fifteen centuries than these Chaldasan
sculptures, are a continuation of the
same art. As M. Heuzey has re
marked: "the muscular forms of As
syrian art, standing out from the body
like pieces of mail, and generally
carved in relief in the soft stone, re
present a systematic exaggeration of
those qualities of strength and power
which Chaldasan sculpture drew di
rectly from nature."
To get. some idea of the character
istics of this art, realistic and almost/
brutal, yet refined by its striving after.j
expressive modelling, we have but to
study one of the statues in the Louvre Jj
The Architect with the Rule (Fig. 25).

20

EGYPT, CHALD^A, AND PERSIA

As a fact, it represents, not an archi
tect, but one of the princes of the land
in the character of a constructor; on

FIG. 26. — HEAD.
Discovered at Tello, Babylon.
(The Louvre.)
his knees is a rule, the length of the
Babylonian foot (about ioi inches),
subdivided into sixteen equal parts.
The modelling of the arm and of the
foot sufficiently indicate the tendencies
of Chaldasan art; we find nothing akin
to it in Egypt, save perhaps the heads
of the Sa'ite school, later by some 2000
years. Even in Greece it would be
difficult to point to sculpture showing
the same exaggeration of muscular
energy. A head, in very excellent preserva
tion, was discovered at the same place
(Fig. 26). It represents a fat man with
a shaven face, wearing a sort of turban
with swathed folds in relief. The thick
eyebrows and widely-opened eyes are
.features common to all Chaldasan and
Assyrian art. The square structure
of the face, and the prominent cheek
bones bear the same stamp of physical
vigour we have already noted in The
Architect with the Rule. The expres

sion has no touch of benevolence, not
the shadow of a smile; the folks of
Tello must have been formidable
neighbours. The glorification of brute-force, and
a delight in cruel spectacles character
ise the long series of alabaster bas-
reliefs dating from about 800 — 600 B.C.
which Layard and Botta discovered
at Nineveh, and brought home to the
British Museum and the Louvre.
They formed the interior decoration
of palaces, and commemorated the
victories and diversions of the As
syrian kings. Whereas in Egyptian
art the gods are the protagonists, in
that of Assyria the kings take their
place, kings eager for military fame,
glorying in the recollection of bloody
victories. The bas-reliefs show scenes
of revolting carnage, of horrible tor
tures inflicted on the vanquished in
the presence of the conqueror! The
cuneiform in
scriptions that
accompany the
bas-reliefs cele
brate the most
hideous butche
ries as high
exploits. Rep
resentations of
tutelary divini
ties are not,
however, alto
gether lacking.
The Louvre
owns a colossal
figure of a
bearded god,
probably Gil-
games, the As
syrian Hercules, gripping a lion
to his breast (Fig. 27). Elsewhere,
Assyrian sculptures show winged

!?' V

FIG. 27. — ASSYRIAN HER
CULES.
(The Louvre.)

21

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

genii, sometimes mighty bulls with
human faces, guarding the entrances

FIG. 28. — ASSYRIAN WINGED BULL.
(The Louvre.)
of palaces (Fig. 28), sometimes eagle-
headed monsters performing some sort
of ritual on either side of a sacred
tree. The goddesses who figure so
frequently on the cylinders, never ap
pear in the bas-reliefs, where, indeed,
female figures are rarely to be seen,
save in processions, as queens or cap
tives. Another favourite theme is a royal
hunting party. The representation of
animals, (horses, dogs, and lions), is
the triumph of Assyrian art (Fig. 29).
Greek antiquity produced nothing
finer than the wounded lion and
lionessyin the British Museum (Fig.
30) ; /the realkm of these studies
is startling. ,;The men, with their
hard, bony faces, their square, sym
metrically curled beards, their ex
aggerated muscularity.7/are at once
less elegant and less natural than the
animals. Yet the drawing is more
correct here than in the Egyptian bas-
reliefs; and if the eyes are still shown

looking to the front in profile figures,
the shoulders do not confront the
spectator, as do those of the Egyptian
sculptures. ^^|
Assyrian art jfl . Bus but very
few figures in the^BlBr les essential
object was the decOTaTion of surfaces,
which were also faced with painted
stuccoes, enamelled bricks, and figured
bronzes. A party of German explorers
has recently discovered at Babylon a
colossal lion in enamelled bricks, very
similar to the great friezes in the
Louvre, brought by M. Dieulafoy
from Susa; but the exploration of the
temples and palaces of Babylon has
only just begun.
The Assyrians had no building
stone. They used bricks for the con
struction of their vast palaces, com
posed of rectangular halls and long
corridors surrounding a series of
interior courts, and decorated their
immense surfaces with paintings and
sculptures. We know very little about
their temples, save that they were in
the shape of a pyramid with steps, sur
mounted by a chapel containing the

FIG. 29. — ASSYRIAN BAS-RELIEF.
(British Museum.)
(Photo, by Mansell.)

image of the god (Fig. 31). This
was the traditional type of the famous
Tower of Babel, a temple dedicated

22

EGYPT, CHALDSEA, AND PERSIA

to the god Bel, built at Babylon
by Nebuchadnezzar about the year
600 B.C.
The most jaiecesting feature of

FIG. 30. — ASSYRIAN BAS-RELIEF. A WOUNDED
LION.
(British Museum.)
Assyrian architecture is the import
ance given to the vault. The
Egyptians were not altogether ignor
ant ¦ of it, but they made only a very
restricted use of it, whereas the
Assyrians built not only vaults, but
cupolas of brick, rising boldly above
their square halls. It is a mistake,
therefore, to attribute this oriental
invention to the Romans, an inven
tion which Greek art of the perfect
period did not adopt, but which seems
to have passed from Assyria to the
Lydians, from the Lydians to the
Etruscans, from Etruria to Rome, and
thence to Byzantine and modern art.
Indeed, the influence of Chaldasan
and Assyrian art was very much more
extensive and far-reaching than that
of the art of Egypt; it made itself
felt on the one hand in Persia; on the
other over a great part of Asia Minor,
Persian art is, strictly speaking, only
the official art of the dynasty of the
Achjemenides, which began with Cyrus
and ended with Darius Codoman; it
lasted for barely two centuries (550-

330 B.C.). Its most important relics
are the ruins of the palaces of Susa
and Persepolis. The architecture of
these palaces is thoroughly impreg
nated with the influences of Ionian
Greece, in other words, of the Greeks
of the Asiatic coasts; the decoration — ¦
bas-reliefs and friezes of enamelled
bricks— is derived from Assyrian art.
The masterpiece of Persian art, the
Frieze of Archers in the Louvre
(Fig. 32) reveals not only an Assyrian
origin, but a delicacy of drawing and
a sobriety of motive due to the
proximity, if not to the direct interven
tion, of Greek art.
Bas-reliefs, statues, and jewels of a
peculiar style, bearing inscriptions as
yet indecipherable, have been dis
covered in the vast region lying
between Northern Syria and Armenia
(Fig. 33). These objects have been at
tributed to the Hittites, a people men
tioned in the Bible, who maintained
relations alternately peaceful and hos
tile with the Egyptians and Assyrians,

FIG. 31. — CHALDEAN TEMPLE.
(Reconstructed by Ch. Chipiez.)

23

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

as it
orig- and de-
men- such sur- the

FIG 32. — ARCHERS FROM THE
PALACE AT SUSA.
(Frieze of enamelled brick, in
the Louvre.)

and who seem to have founded an em
pire in Asia between 1300 and 600 B.C.
Hittite art is saturated with Assyrian
influences ;
those of
Egypt are
much less
perceptible.
It lacked
vitality
lacked inality,
hardlyserves tion in
a rapid
vey as
present. The coast
of Syria, with
which the
neighbour
ing island of Cyprus was closely
connected, was inhabited by the
Phosnicians. Attempts have been
made to show that the Phosnicians, a
race of skilful traders, were the masters
of the Greeks; an art founded on that
of Assyria and of Egypt has been at
tributed to them, and of this art, it has
been maintained, traces have been
found, not only in Greece, but in Italy,
in Central Europe, and even in Gaul.
The whole assumption is baseless.
A brisk trade in decorative objects
was undoubtedly carried on by the
Phosnicians; but for the last hundred
years, students have vainly sought any
traces of that Phoenician art, the
existence of which was first suggested
to them at the beginning of this period.
Both in Phoenicia and Cyprus, the
Phoenicians of B.C. 1000 were mediocre
imitators of the Assyrians; about the
period of the Egyptian renaissance

under the Sa'ite dynasty, they imitated
the Egyptians, while at the same "time
they imitated the Greeks. We may
allow that they showed a certain skill
in the manufactur$;"bf coloured glass
and of engraved metal cups; but
these industrial products, the designs
of which were inspired by foreign
models, are not sufficient to constitute
a national art.
The Biblical descriptions of the
Temple of Jerusalem and Solomon's
palace show that these monuments
were Assyrian in character; prominent
among the decorative motives were
the Kherubim, which are identical
with the winged bulls of Assyria.
The word cherub, which is now used
to signify an angel, a winged child, is
an Assyrian term which passed into
the Hebrew tongue, and thence into
all modern languages. It was like
wise from Assyria, or rather from
Chaldasa, that modern art received at
the hands of the Greeks, those winged
figures of men and animals of which it
still makes so liberal a use, especially
in decoration.
Thus, if we set aside the primasval

FIG. 33. — HITTITE LION.
(Museum, Constantinople.)
art of the reindeer-hunters, we see that
before the fruition of Hellenic genius

24

EGYPT, CHALD^A, AND PERSIA
only two great schools of art had ander the Great, and as to Chinese
nourished in the world, those of Egypt art, it first began to produce master-
and of Chaldasa. The first gave ex- pieces during the mediasval ages in
pression mainly to the idea of dura- Europe. The most ancient Chinese
tion, the second to that of strength; sculptures of ascertained date, were
it was reserved to Greek art to realise executed about the year 130 of our
the idea of beauty. era. They show the influences of a
If I pass over the art of India and of bastard form of Greek art, which had
China it is because the great antiquity spread from the shores of the Black
attributed to these is a delusion. India Sea towards Siberia and Central
had no art before the period of Alex- Asia.

III.— BIBLIOGRAPHY.
G. Perrot and Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de VArt dans VAntiquite (vols, i.-v., Paris, 1882-
1890: Egypt, Assyria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Judeea, Asia Minor, Phrygia, Lydia, Persia.
English translation, London, 1883 — 1894). E. Babelon, Manuel d'Archeologie Orientate,
Paris, no date; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de V Orient, 3 vols., Paris,
189 5-1899; V Archeologie ligypt-ienne, Paris, no date; A. Choisy, VArt de bdlir chez les
Egyptiens, Paris, 1904; L. Heuzey, Catalogue des Antiquites Chaldeennes du Louvre, Paris,
1902; C. Bezold, Niniveh und Babylon, Bielefeld, 1903.
On the Law of Frontality, see'Lechat, Une Loi de la Statuaire primitive, in the Revue
des UniversitSs du Midi, vol. i. (1895) p. 1, and Perrot, Histoire de I' Art, vol. viii., p. 689.
Lange's work, written in Danish, has been translated into German.
Short notices: Benedite,- Statuette de la Dame Toui, xx. Dynastie (Monuments Piot,
vol. ii., p. 29); Berthelot, Sur les Metaux Egyptiens (ibid, vol. vii., p. 121); G. Maspero,
Le Scribe accroupi de Gizeh (ibid, vol. i., p. 1); L. Heuzey, Le Vase aV Argent d'Entimena
(ibid, vol. ii., p. 1) ; E. Pottier, Les Antiquites de Suse, Mission Dieulafoy (Gazette des Beaux
Arts, 1886, ii., p. 353); Les Fouilles de Suse, Mission de Morgan (ibid, 1902, i., p. 17);
Le Lotus dans V Architecture llgyptienne (ibid, 1898, i., p. 77, after a work by G. Fou-
cart); S. Reinach, Le Mirage Oriental (Chroniques d' Orient, Paris, 1896, vol. ii., p. 509);
Le Deblaiemenl du grand Sphinx, Les Fouilles de Suse, etc. (Esquisses Archeologiques,
Paris, 1886); A. Foucher, Sculptures grecobouddhiques (Monuments Piot, vol. vii., p. 3g);
E. Chavannes, La Sculpture sur pierre en Chine, Paris, 1893 (cf. Revue Archeologique,
1901, i., p. 224).

IV

^GEAN, MINOAN, AND MYCENAEAN ART:
TROY, CRETE, AND MYCENAE
Primitive Art in the Grecian Archipelago. — Its Tendency to reproduce the Human Form.
— Schliemann's Excavations at Hissarlik (Troy), Mycenas and Tiryns. — The Golden
Vases of Vaphio. — Excavations made by Mr. Arthur Evans in Crete. — Discovery
of Minos' Palace, the Labyrinth. — Discovery of the Palace of Phasstus. — The Three
Periods of Prehistoric Greek Art. — Destruction of the Mycenaean Civilisation by
Barbarians. — Mycenaean Refugees in the Islands of the Archipelago. — The Hellenic
Middle Ages. — Cyclopean Walls. — The Gate of the Lions at Mycenae. — Minoan
and Mycenaean Bas-reliefs and Metal-work. — Animation the distinguishing Char
acteristic of Minoan Art.

The islands and the coast of the
iEgean Sea (the Archipelago), were
the seat of a very ancient civilisation
which had become a mere brilliant
memory by the time of Homer (about
800 years before Christ). It was not
until our own day that the evidences
of this civilisation were brought to
light. As early as 3000 B.C. the hardy
mariners of these regions were familiar
with copper, the first metal commonly
used by man. It was found in abun
dance in the island of Cyprus, from
which, no doubt, its name was derived
( Kiirpos ). Many vestiges of primitive
industry have been discovered in this
island, of a much earlier date than the
imitations of Assyrian works; similar
discoveries have been made in Crete,
at Amorgos, and at Thera (Santorin),
and in certain districts on the coast of
Asia and in Northern Greece (Thrace,
the modern Roumelia). The products
of this industry have one marked
characteristic; the tendency to rep

resent, more or less rudely, the
human form. They consist for the
most part of coarse sculptures, femi
nine idols in white marble, which,
contrary to the usage of Egypt and
Chaldsea, are always nude. Even the
clay jars found often affect the form of
the body, with paunches, shoulders
and necks, surmounted by indications
of eyes and of a pointed nose.
From the year 1870 onwards, Hein-
rich Schliemann, a German who had
made a fortune in America, undertook
a series of important excavations at
Hissarlik, on the Dardanelles, the
supposed site of legendary Troy. Be
neath the Greek city of Ilium he
found six small towns, one beneath the
other; the most ancient of these con
tained but a few objects made of
copper, with a number of stone imple
ments. The four towns above this
first contained bronze tools, and vases
with incised ornament, unpainted.
The town sixth in order from the
base yielded many fragments of

26

^GEAN, MINOAN, AND MYCENAEAN ART

painted vases, similar to those
Schliemann afterwards discovered at
Mycenas. This town was the Troy of

FIG. 34. — MYCENAEAN DAGGER.
(Museum, Athens.)
Priam, destroyed by the Achasans
under Agamemnon. Thus it may
fairly be said that the discoveries of
archasology confirmed the Homeric
tradition in its main lines.
Schliemann's excavations at Troy
brought to light a vast number of
objects of all kinds, among others a
treasure of golden vases and orna
ments, clay jars in the shape of human
figures, weights ornamented with in
cisions which mark a first step towards
written characters, a little leaden figure
of a nude woman, etc. But all these
discoveries were eclipsed by those
Schliemann himself made at Mycenae
and Tiryns in 1876 and 1884. In
these two ancient cities mentioned by
Homer, he found relics of an advanced
civilisation, which bore testimony to a
very original artistic taste, absolutely
independent of that of Egypt and
Assyria. At Mycenas, where tombs built of
stone in the form of cupolas were
already known to exist, Schliemann
excavated royal tombs of extraordinary
splendour under the great public
place of the ancient city. The faces
of several skeletons were covered with
mask-like sheets of gold; there were
also vases of gold and silver, deli
cately wrought ornaments, bronze
daggers, incised with hunting-scenes

inlaid with fillets of gold and silver
(Fig. 34), and a gold ring engraved
with a religious subject.
At Tiryns, Schliemann unearthed a
palace ornamented with mural paint
ings, the best preserved of which rep
resents an acrobat or a hunter bound
ing over a galloping bull.
Both at Mycenas and at Tiryns, the
explorer found hundreds of fragments
of painted pottery of a very original
character, decorated with plants.
leaves, and marine animals (cuttle fish,
octopuses, etc.), that is to say, with
objects drawn from organic nature
(Fig. 35). Nothing of the sort occurs
in Chaldasa or Egypt, or in central and
western Europe, where geometrical
decoration prevails: He also found a
great many seals of hard stone, on
which fantastic figures of men and ani
mals were engraved in a precise and

FIG. 35. — MYCENAEAN VASE.
(Museum, Marseilles.)
vigorous style, which recalls that of
the Chaldasan cylinders, but shows no
likeness to that of Egypt.

27

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIC. 36. — FRAGMENT FROM ONE OF THE GOLDEN VASES OF VAPHIO.
(Museum, Athens.)

In 1886, a learned Greek, M. Tsoun-
tas, explored a large tomb at Vaphio,
not far from Sparta. It contained
besides engraved stones and other
objects, two admirable golden goblets,
decorated with scenes representing
the capture of wild bulls (Fig. 36).
These vases are celebrated, and the
bulls of Vaphio are as life-like and as
well drawn as the finest productions
of the Assyrian
animal-painters. Lastly, since the
year 1900, Mr.
Arthur Evans has
excavated at Cnos-
sus, in the island
of Crete, the an
cient palace which
the Greek legend
described as the
habitation of King
Minos, and called
the Labyrinth.
This word, which is
still used to signify
a complicated ar
rangement of paths
and passages orig
inally meant, ac
cording to Mr. Evans, " The Palace of
the Axe," and was derived from the old
word, labrys, which signifies axe in

FIG. 37. — A VASE-EEARER.
From a Fresco in the
Palace of Cnossus.
(Museum, Candia.)

one of the dialects spoken on the
Asiatic coast. Now the Palace of
Cnossus was certainly the Palace of
the Axe, for throughout it a two-edged
axe, a religious symbol, is outlined on
the walls, and it is difficult not to lose
one's way in it, for like the Assyrian
palaces, it shows a most perplexing
tangle of corridors.
This palace was decorated with a
profusion of plaster bas-reliefs and
paintings. These latter are amazing
in their variety and freedom of style
(Figs. 37, 38). Interspersed among
the life-size figures there are little
scenes with numerous personages,
among others a group of elaborately
adorned women in low-cut gowns,
assembled on a balcony. A woman's
face in profile is so modern in treat
ment that we should hesitate to attrib
ute it to the sixteenth century before
Christ, if there were any room for
doubt in the matter (Fig. 38). There
are also hunting-scenes, landscapes, a
view of a town, in short a whole series
of picturesque subjects, which have
come as a revelation to the art-histo
rian. Another palace similar to that
of Cnossus was discovered at another
point on the island of Crete, Phasstus,
and successfully explored by an Italian
scholar, Halbherr. Together with a

28

AEGEAN, MINOAN, AND MYCENAEAN ART

number of mural paintings, he found
a vase of hard stone, decorated with
very spirited reliefs, representing a
procession of reapers (Fig. 39).
Modern archaeologists indicate three
periods in the distant past of pre-
Homeric Greece: ist. the jEgean
Period, of little marble idols (from
about 3000 to 2000 years before
Christ) ; 2nd. The Minoan Period
(that of Minos), or Cretan Period, of
which the Island of Crete seems to
have been the principal centre, cha
racterised by a rapid advance in the
arts of design and of work in metal,
first towards realism and afterwards
towards elegance; Egyptian influences
directed this development, without in
ducing servile imitation (2000-1500
b.c). 3rd. The Mycenasan Period,
the only one known to Schliemann,
which seems, in certain respects, to
have been the age of the Minoan de
cadence; it is characterised by a very
original style of painted pottery, deco
rated with plants and animals (b.c
1500-1100). These civilisations, form
ing a continuous development, are
reflected in the poems ascribed to
Homer, which received their present
form towards the year 800 B.C. In
the interval between the Mycenasan
civilisation and Homer, a catastrophe

FIG. 38. — YOUNG CRETAN GIRL.
Fresco from the Palace of Cnossus (Crete).
(Museum, Candia.)
had come about, analogous to the
ruin of the Roman Empire by the
Barbarians. Certain warlike tribes
from northern Greece, the Dorians
among others, destroyed the My
cenasan civilisation and plunged
Greece once more into barbarism,
about 1 100 B.C., a few years after the
Trojan war. But civilisation did not
utterly perish. Several tribes, flying
before the invaders, took refuge in the
islands, notably at Chios and Cyprus,
on the coast of Asia Minor and of

FIG. 39. — FRAGMENT OF CARVED RELIEF.
On the so-called Vase of Reapers, discovered at Phaestus, Crete.
(Museum, Candia.)
29

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Syria; these places inherited a part of
the Mycenasan civilisation, and pre
served the memory thereof. The isle
of Chios was doubtless the birthplace
of the Homeric poems, which cele
brated the vanished glory of the an
cient royal houses of Greece. The
day came when the descendants or
heirs of the exiled Mycenasans pre
sented themselves as the educators
of a Greece that had relapsed into
barbarism, and gave her back some
sparks of the genius their ancestors
had received from her. We see here

FIG. 40. — GATE OF THE LIONS AT MYCENAE.
a phenomenon similar to that which
manifested itself in the fourteenth cen
tury, at the close of the Christian
Middle Ages, when the learned men
of Constantinople, remote heirs of
Roman civilisation, came to carry on
its tradition on Italian soil, and pre
pared the way for the Renaissance in
Florence and in Rome.
The term Hellenic Middle Ages (in
contradistinction to that of Christian
Middle Ages) is applied to the period
of about three centuries which elapsed
between the downfall of the Mycenas
ans, and the first dawn of the Renais
sance in Greece. Before Schliemann's
excavations, our knowledge was con
fined to the beginnings of this Renais

sance; we therefore owe him an im
mense increase in our knowledge.
The energetic explorer has added
more than six centuries to the glorious
history of Greek art.
Mycenas, Tiryns, and other ancient
towns of Greece, Italy, and Asia Minor,
are surrounded by walls composed of
enormous blocks of stone, irregular or
polygonal in shape, sometimes 18 or
20 feet long. These walls are called
Cyclopean, because the Greeks believed
them to be the work of the giants of
mythology called Cyclops. At Mycenas
the wall is interrupted by a huge gate,
crowned by two lionesses, one on either
side of a column (Fig. 40). This sculp
ture forms a singular triangular block,
probably much later in date than the
wall. Indeed, the so-called Cyclopean
walls are older than the Mycenasan
civilisation, and point to an initial
occupation of the district by a mili
tary or sacerdotal aristocracy. They
show a certain affinity with the dol
mens of Western Europe, and bear
witness to the existence of an analo
gous social order, in which thou
sands of men obeyed the commands
of a small number of chieftains, and
worked in their interest and for their
glory. The fact that similar walls are
found from Italy to Asia proves that
the invasion of the tribes among whom
the Mycenasan civilisation was evolved,
about the year 2000 B.C., was not
confined to the Balkan peninsula,
but extended east and west of this
region. No Minoan "or Mycenasan temples
have been unearthed; the buildings
discovered are all palaces. It seems
probable therefore that the palace was
also the temple, and that the dwelling
of the god was comprised in that of the

30

.EGEAN, MINOAN, AND MYCENAEAN ART

king. The palaces are very slight in
construction, and wood was used more
freely than stone in building them.
They had wooden columns, which,
like the legs of our modern chairs and
tables, taper from top to bottom.
When these wooden columns were
imitated in stone, as, for instance, in
the Gate of the Lions at Mycenas,
their characteristic form was retained,
a form only found in Mycenasan art.
The capitals which surmount the
columns show the first essays in the
constitution of the two orders, the
Doric and Ionic, which played such a
brilliant part in Greek architecture,
and are still used at the present
day. The Minoans and Mycenasans have
left us no large statues in the round,
but a great number of their bas-reliefs
in alabaster, plaster, and metal, figu
rines in terra cotta, ivory, and bronze,
and specimens of chased and repousse
metal-work have come down to us.
Both at Cnossus and Mycenas there
is a strange difference in quality be
tween works excavated at the same
level, and belonging, no doubt, to the
same period ; the explanation is, that
a popular art, as yet rude and imper
fect, existed side by side with the
official art, which was perhaps the
monopoly of certain corporations, and
produced its masterpieces only for the
great. To say that Greek art before the
year iooo b.c realised the ideal of
beauty would be a manifest exaggera
tion. Even in works as remarkable
as the goblets of Vaphio, probably
made at Cnossus, the human figures
with their wasp-like proportions and
their long thin legs, are still far in
deed from the masterpieces of classic

art. But if Assyrian art expresses
the idea of strength, Minoan art
may be said to embody that of life.
It has no trace of the cold elegance
of the Egyptian art of the New Em
pire, which flourished at the same
time. Objects of Egyptian manufac
ture have been found in the Minoan
and Mycenasan towns, and Mycenasan
vases have been unearthed in Egypt ;
the Egyptians, Minoans, and Myce
nasans knew each other, and traded
together ; but these Greeks were in
no sense tributary to Egypt, and all
they borrowed from the latter were
certain technical processes and an
occasional decorative motive.1
The love of the Minoan artist for
life and movement manifests itself
most strongly in his admirable render
ings of animals ; in this respect there
is a certain likeness between his art
and that of the reindeer-hunters. It
would be interesting to trace a con
nection, a historic link between these
two arts, in spite of the interval of
some sixty centuries that lies between
them. Who shall say we may not some
day discover that the art of the rein
deer-hunters, which disappeared from
France some thousands of years before
the glories of Cnossus, and Mycenas,
was preserved in some unexplored
corner of Europe, and finally intro
duced into Greece in one of the nume
rous invasions of the northern tribes,
who were incessantly pouring down
from Central Europe to the Mediter-

1 Writing was an art known to the
Minoans ; thousands of tablets bearing
inscriptions have been discovered in
Crete ; but these inscriptions, which have
not yet been deciphered, have nothing
in common with the Egyptian hiero
glyphs.

31

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
Be this as it may, the future will traordinary manifestation of plastic
no doubt reveal what is now an un- genius which it was reserved to our
solved mystery — the origin of that ex- own age to discover.

IV.— BIBLIOGRAPHY.
G. Perrot and Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de VArt, vol. vi., Paris., 1895 (La Grece primi
tive, Troie, Myc'enes, Tirynthe. English translation, London, 1894); W. Doerpfeld,
Troja und Ilion, 2 vols., Athens, 1902; E. Pottier, Catalogue des Vases du Louvre, Paris,
1896, vol. i., p. 173-211; A. Furtwaengler, Die antiken Gemmen, Leipzig, 1900, vol. iii.,
p. 13-67 (Mycenasan Epoch and Hellenic Middle Ages).
On the recent discoveries in Crete there are various articles by Mr. Arthur Evans
(Annual oj the British School of Athens, vol. vi.-ix., London, i8gg-igo3, Journal oj Hel
lenic Studies, vol. xxi., London, 1901). See also for the Italian excavations, Monumenti
antichi dei Lined, vols, xii., xiii., Milan, 1902, 1903; R. Weill, Le Vase de Phaestos (Revue
Archeologique, 1904, i., p. 52). Summaries of these works in French have been published
by E. Pottier, Revue de Paris, and Revue de VArt ancien et moderne,igo2, and by S. Reinach,
in V Anthropologic, 1902, p. 1-39; 1903, p. no; 1904, p. 193.

32

V

GREEK ART BEFORE PHIDIAS

The Abundance of Marble a Determining Factor in the Tendencies of Greek Art. — The
Rationalistic Cast, of the Greek Intellect.— The Rapid Development of Greek Art.
— Archaic Statues. — The Artemis of Delos, the Hera of Samos, and the Statue of
Chares. — The Treasury of the Cnidians. — The Chian Sculptors and their Invention
of the Winged Victory. — The Dawn of Expression in Sculpture. — The Orantes of
the Acropolis. — Archaic Apollos and Athletes. — The Type replaced by the Individual.
— The Impetus given to Art by the Greek Victories over the Persians. — The Pedi
ments of the Temple of Aphaia at /Egina. — The Pediments of the Temple of Zeus
at Olympia. — Myron and the Statue of the Discobolus. — Polyclitus and the Statue
of the Doryphorus. — The Creation of the Type of the Amazon. — Phidias, Myron,
and Polycletes the Supreme Masters of the First Great Period. — The Eternal Pro
gression of Art.

Many of the islands of the Archi
pelago, notably Paros, are merely
enormous blocks of marble ; this
material is also very abundant in
Attica — where were the famous
quarries of Pentelicus and of Hy-
mettus — in northern Greece and
on the coast of Asia. The Greeks
had this great advantage over the
Assyrians and the Egyptians : they
had at their disposal an admirable
material, less hard than granite, less
soft than alabaster, agreeable to the
sight, and comparatively easy to work.
Nor was this all ; still more important
was the fact that as yet they had
never felt the yoke of despotism and
superstition. As soon as they ap
peared in history, the Greeks pre
sented a striking contrast to all other
peoples: they had the instinct of
liberty, they loved novelty, and were
eager for progress. The Greeks were
never bound to the past by the chains
of a tyrannical tradition. Even their
religion was but a slight restraint on
their liberty. At a very early period
we find among them a tendency of
which there is no trace in any Oriental
nation, the habit of considering human
things as purely human, of reasoning
upon them as if they were concerned

solely with reason. This tendency is
what is known as Rationalism. To
gether with their love of liberty and
their taste for the beautiful, rationalism
is a precious gift made by Greece to
humanity. The progress of the Greeks in the
domain of art was extraordinarily
rapid ; barely two centuries and a half
elapsed between the origin of sculpture
in marble and its apogee. This would
seem inexplicable and altogether
phenomenal had not Asiatic or Ionian
Greece, the legatee of Mycenasan art,
influenced by the art of Egypt and
Assyria, played a part it would be
unjust to ignore in the education of
Greece proper. But we must hasten
to add that no genius was ever less
prone to servile imitation than that of
the Greeks ; what they knew of
Oriental art only incited them to rise
above it.
One of the most ancient marble
statues discovered in Greece is an
Artemis, excavated by M. Homolle at
Delos ; it dates from about the year
620 b.c (Fig. 41). It might almost
be taken for a pillar or a tree-trunk,
with summary indications of a head,
hair, arms, and a girdle ; it is more
primitive than the Egyptian art of

33

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG 41. — ARCHAIC
STATUE OF ARTEMIS.
Found at Delos.
(Museum, Athens.)

the period of the
Pyramids. The
Greeks called these
figures xoana (from
xeein, to scrape
wood), that is to
say, images carved
in wood, which
seems to have been
the material first
used for large sta
tues. Another femi
nine type, the Hera
of Santos (Fig. 42),
now in the Louvre,
is about thirty or
forty years later in
date (580 B.C.). The
general aspect is
still that of a col
umn, but if we observe the shawl in
which the goddess is draped, we shall
note folds that were studied from
nature, a se
vere grace, a
dawning free
dom. By the
middle of the
6th century,
b.c, we get the
seated statue of
King Chares,
discovered a t
B r a n c h i das,
near Miletus,
in Asia Minor,
and preserved
in the British
Museum (Fig.
43)- It is a
typical exam
ple of Greek
art in Asia, or Ionian art; it shows
a tendency to squatness in the forms,
but the lines of the body are al-

f/-Jj

,

FIG. 42 .—ARCHAIC STATUE OF
HERA.
Found at Samos.
(The Louvre.)

ready indicated under the draperies.^
which are cast with a certain bold
ness. A similar heaviness of form,
combined with great delicacy of
execution, characterises the Carya
tides and friezes of the little temple
known as the Treasury of the Cnidians
dating from 530 B.C., which was exca
vated at Delphi by M. Homolle, and
reconstructed in plaster at. the Louvre,

FIG. 43. — STATUE OF CHARES.
(British Museum.)
to the ' left of the Victory of Samo-
thrace (Fig. 44).
About the year 550, a family of
sculptors, mentioned by various Greek
writers were working in the isle of
Chios. One of them, Achermqs,;,
invented a new type, that of a winged
goddess, Victory or Gorgon, advanc- ,
ing with a rapid movement. A statue
of this school was discovered in the isle
of Delos (Fig. 45). This figure marks
an important innovation in sculpture.
Remember that Egyptian art had hardly-;;
ever essayed to represent a woman,
save with her legs pressed together as

34

GREEK ART BEFORE PHIDIAS

in a sheath, and that Assyrian art
rarely represented her at all; here,
barely 150 years after the first lispings
of Greek art, we have a woman who is
running, displaying the upper part of
a muscular leg, and even smiling, a
greater innovation than all the rest. It
is true that the smile lacks sweetness,
that it is somewhat of a grimace, that
the mouth is harsh, the cheek bones
too prominent; but the smile is there,
and this is the first time we meet with

FIG. 44. — FACADE OE THE TREASURY OF THE
CNIDIANS AT DELPHI.
(Reconstruction in the Louvre.)

it in art (Fig. 46). The Egyptian and
Assyrian divinities have too little of
humanity to smile; they either grimace
or look out stolidly at the spectator.
In the Nike of Delos, we see an art
which is no longer content to imitate
forms; it is seeking after, and begin
ning to express, sentiment, spiritual
life. This was a great discovery,
heralding a new art.
The Chian sculptures were brought
to Athens, and soon found imitators.
Thanks to the excavations made on
the Acropolis in 1886, in the stratum

FIG. 45. — RECONSTRUCTION OF. AN ARCHAIC STATUE
OF NIKE".
Found at Delos.
(Museum, Athens.)

of debris accumulated by the Persians
in 480 B.C., we possess a whole series
of startues of this school. As they re
present neither Gorgons nor Victories,
but Orantes, they are closely veiled, and
are not running ; but occasionally they

35

FIG. 46. — HEAD OF THE NIKE OF DELOS.
(Museum, Athens.)
D 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

smile delightfully,
desire to please

FIG. 47.  ORANTE, FROM
THE ACROPOLIS.
(Museum, Athens.)

with an evident
(Fig. 47)- Stiff
and rigid in
their long tunics,
they are neverthe
less living, and no
one who has seen
them can forget
them. This ap
pearance of life
was enhanced by
vivid colouring,
of which, hap
pily, considerable
traces still re
main, a proof that
Greek archaic
sculptors were not
content to carve
the marble, but
that they also
painted it.
A male type akin to this, that of a
nude man, standing, his arms against
his body, was probably created in the
isle of Crete before the year 600 a.d.,
and developed in the sixth century,
notably in Attica. It was the type
first applied to Apollo and to victorious
athletes (Fig. 48). A series of examples
has survived in which we may trace the
gradual progress of art. Here it was
the form of the body, the indication of
the muscles, with which the sculptor
was primarily occupied. Just as the
school of Chios developed the ex
pression of faces and the rendering
of draperies, that of the Athletes,
as we may call it, first taught the
treatment of what are known as
"academies," i.e., studies from nude
models. These statues of men and women,
in spite of dawning qualities of drawing
and expression, have the grave defect

of being mere abstract types, distin
guished by no individuality of action; '
It was in vain that the sculptor be
stowed attributes on his personages;
they seem to take no sort of interest
in. these, which appear merely as labels.
The momentous progress which was
accomplished towards the close of the
sixth century, consisted in breaking
the mould in which these types had
been cast, and essaying the repre
sentation of individuals, in all the
diversity of their occupations and
attitudes. This progress was achieved rapidly,
but not all at once. It is probable
that painting, always a freer vehicle of
expression than sculpture, contributed
largely to the result. In default of
the frescoes of this period, which have
perished, we have the last vases with
black figures, and the first vases with
red figures, in which the rupture with
traditional mo
tives is very
marked. The
habit of repre
senting the vic
torious athletes
of the public
games in sculp
ture must also
have exercised a
salutary influ
ence, for it was
necessary to dif
ferentiate these
images, and to
make them com
memorative o f
the various ex
ploits of strength
and skill b y
which the victors had distinguished
themselves.

FIG. 48. — ARCHAIC STATUE
OF APOLLO.
(Museum, Athens.)

36

GREEK ART BEFORE PHIDIAS

FIG. 49. — WOUNDED WARRIOR.
Figure from the eastern pediment of the Temple of
Aphaia at .^Egina.
(Munich. Photo, by Bruckmann.)

The great historic events of 490 to
479 B.C.1 gave an immense impetus to
all the forces of Hellenic genius, by
revealing to it the full extent of its
powers, and its superiority to the ser
vile civilisations of Asia. To this bene
ficent crisis we owe the masterpieces
of Greek poetry, the odes of Pin
dar and the tragedies of jEschylus.
And after Salamis and My-
cale, there were not only
pasans to sing, but ruins to
rebuild. The Persians had
destroyed the majority of the
Greek temples, and all those
in Athens. Rich with the
spoils taken from the in
vaders, the Greeks were
able to restore what their
enemies had sacked or de
molished. They set them
selves to the task, and new
born classic art found an
exceptional opportunity of
expressing itself in many
ways at once.
The first works which pre
sage the perfect emancipation of Greek
genius were produced between 480 and
470 b.c. These were the pediments

of the temple of Aphaia at Mginix
(now at Munich).2
The sculptured groups represent
combats between the Greeks and the
Trojans, an illusion to the recent
struggle between Hellas and Asia;
the Greek warriors are protected by
Pallas Athene. The heads are more
archaic than the bodies, as if the
emancipation of art in dealing with
these, being more recent, was for that
very reason more complete. The body
of a fallen warrior on the eastern
pediment is almost equal to the
masterpieces of the perfect period
(Fig. 49).
The pediments of the temple of
Zeus at Olympia, discovered during
the German excavations of 1874 to
1880, are some fifteen years later, and
date from about 460 B.C. (Figs. 50, 51).

50. — CENTRAL PART OF THE WESTERN PEDIMENT OF
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA.
(Reconstruction by Treu.)

1 The invasion of Greece by the armies
of Darius and of Xerxes (the so-called
Median Wars).

The east pediment represents the pre
paration for the race in which Pelops
2 It was discovered in 1901 that the
temple was dedicated to the local goddess,
Aphaia (Comptes rendus de I'Academie des
Inscriptions, 1901, p. 523).
37

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

and CEnomaus were to compete ; that
of the west depicts the battle of

FIG. 51. — HEAD OF A WOMAN OF THE LAPITH^E.
Western pediment of the Temple of Zeus at
Olympia.
the Centaurs and Lapithas, in which
Apollo appears as the protector of the
Lapithas, for whom Theseus and
Pirithoos were fighting (Fig. 50).
Some fine metopes from this temple,
excavated by the French explorers
in the Morea, are in the Louvre;
other fragments, discovered since,
are at Olympia (Fig. 52). They are
vigorous works, marked by . a certain
rudeness ; their robust simplicity has
been not inaptly compared to that of
the tragedies of yEschylus, which were
being performed at Athens at about
the time when the sculptures were
executed. They have a quality more novel in
the history of. art than the knowledge
of form, and this is the excellence of
their composition. The Egyptians
and the Assyrians brought figures to
gether and juxtaposed them ; they
never thought of arranging them

round a central figure as if to balance
it. Composition, as understood by the
Greeks of the. fifth century B.C., was
not a rigorous symmetry, which would
have been a servitude for art, but that
artistic symmetry which reveals the
perfection of liberty, combining both
order and freedom.
The eastern pediment contains only
figures in repose ; in the western
pediment, they are nearly all in
motion. It would be possible to
suppose, and, indeed, it was long
supposed, that two works so different
in character belonged to different
schools. Pausanias, who described
the temple of Olympia, attributed the
eastern pediment to Paeonios of
Mende (Thrace), and the western
pediment to Alcamenes, who, accord
ing to another text, was a native of
Lemnos. Reasons I cannot enter

FIG. 52. — HEAD OF HERCULES.
Metope of the Temple of Olympia.
(Museum, Olympia.)
upon here have caused these attribu
tions to be rejected. It is probable
that the two pediments are works of

38

GREEK ART BEFORE PHIDIAS

the same school, a school affiliated to
that of the islands, and having as its
centre some town in the Peloponnesus,
perhaps Elis, near Olympia.
I have spoken, in dealing with
Egyptian art, of that law of frontality
pointed out by Lange, which, in all
primitive art, condemned the human
figure to move on a vertical plane.
Greek art of the first half of the fifth
century freed itself from these bonds.
The sculptor who distinguished him
self most by this emancipation was
the Athenian, Myron, famous for his
statues of athletes. One of these, the
Discobolus, is known to us from a fine
copy preserved at Rome; it represents
a young man, who is bending with a
vigorous gesture to hurl the discus
(Fig. 53). His body is thrown violently
towards the left, by a twisting action
which calls every muscle into play.
But whereas the whole torso is full of

energetic action of the body (Fig. 54).
This was a characteristic of Greek

FIG. 53. — COPY OF MYRON'S DISCOBOLUS.
(Palazzo Lancelotti, Rome.)
life and expression, the head is still
cold; it seems quite unmoved by the

FIG. 54.-

-HEAD OF COPY OF MYRON'S DISCOBOLUS,
(Palazzo Lancelotti, Rome.)

archaism which lingered later than
any other ; isolated examples are to
be found after the time of. Phidias.
Polyclitus of Argos, who, with
Myron and Phidias, makes up the
triad of great Greek sculptors, was
the author of a colossal statue of
Hera, which we do not know, and of
several bronze statues, copies of which
have come down to us. One of these,
a youth carrying a lance, the so-
called Doryphorus, was called by the
ancients the Canon, or Rule, because
the right proportions of the human
body seemed to have been more
exactly observed in it than in any
other work. The head, a bronze
replica of which was found at Hercu-
lanum, seems somewhat expression
less to us ; but it is one of the oldest
examples of that classic perfection of
the Greek type in which strength and
beauty are equally mated (Fig. 55).

39

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

The ancients noted as a distinguish
ing characteristic of Polyclitus' statues,

FIG. SS. — COPY OF POLYCLITUS' DOEYPHORUS.
(Museum Naples.)
(Photo., Alinari, Florence.)
that they supported the weight of the
body on a single foot. This again
marks an emancipation, the credit of
which belongs to the Greek art of the
fifth century. In Egypt, in Assyria,
in primitive Greek art, all figures in
the round or in relief, plant both feet
on the ground; the tradition is still
observed in the pediments of /Egina.
This heavy attitude was first discarded
in the treatment of figures in motion,
like Myron's Discobolus; but it was
Polyclitus who seems to, have intro
duced the attitude we may describe
as " standing with one foot free."
The most beautiful example we can
point to is the bronze figure of an
Amazon, formerly at Ephesus, of
which there are several copies in
marble (Fig. 56). The type of these
masculine heroines was a favourite one
with Greek artists of the fifth century,
because of the old legends which re

presented them as coming from Asia
to measure themselves against the
Greeks ; the combats of the Greeks
and the Amazons were a transparent
allusion to the great struggle of the
Greeks against the Persians. In addi
tion to this, the Amazon was the
feminine pendant of the Athlete, a
type which permitted the Greek artist
to create a purely human ideal of
female vigour side by side with that
of goddesses. This ideal was realised
with such perfection by Polyclitus
that, down to the end of the classic
period, all the statues of Amazons are
more or less derived from his; he did
for the Amazon what Phidias did for
Jupiter. Polyclitus and Myron were contem
porary with Phidias ; if I have spoken
of them before him, it is because
they seem to have
retained more of
the archaic tradi
tion, notably in that
lingering cold
ness on which I
have insisted.
Phidias himself
never cast off its
trammels alto
gether ; his glory
lies in having
been its highest
expression, just as
the genius of
Raphael was the
most complete ex
pression of the
Renaissance. The
evolution of art is
never complete ; to speak of perfection
in art is a dangerous error, for, by
implication, it comdemns artists to
an eternal reproduction of the same

FIG. 56. — AMAZON,
AFTER POLYCLITUS.
(The Vatican.)
[(Photo, Alinari,
Florence.)

40

GREEK ART BEFORE PHIDIAS
models, to the renunciation of pro- tendencies by giving adequate and
gress. The function of men of genius definite expression to those of their
is rather to prepare the way for new own times.
V— BIBLIOGRAPHY.
M. Collignon, Histoire de la Sculpture Grecque, vol. i. (to the building of the Parthenon) ,
Paris, 1892; E. Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture, London, 1896; G. Perrot, Histoire
del'Art, vol. viii., 1903 (to the Persian Wars) ; H. Lechat, AuMusee de VAcropole, Lyons,
1903 ; A. Joubin, La Sculpture Grecque entre les Guerres Mediques et VEpoque de Pericles,
Paris, 1901 ; A. Furtwaengler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, translated by E. Sellers,
Bpndon, 1895, and Die Antiken Gemmen, vol. iii., Leipzig, 1900 ; A. Mahler, Polyklet,
iraipzig, 1902 ; S. Reinach, Tttes antiques ideates ou idcalisees, Paris, 1903 (the notes to
this work refer to most of the important articles on the history of art before Phidias);
Repertoire de la Statuaire, vols, i.-iii., Paris, 1897-1904 (reproductions in outline of Greek
statutes, with references to all the best publications, and a complete bibliography of Greek
sculpture). For the excavations of the French School of Athens at Delphi, see Th. Homolle, Gazette
des Beaux Arts, 1894, ii., p. 441; Bulletin de Corresp. hellenique, 1900, pp. 427, 616; VAurige
de Delphes (Monuments Piot, vol. iv., p. 169); G. Perrot, Histoire de VArt, vol. viii., p.
336-392 (for the Treasury of the Cnidians, see above, p. 34).

41

VI

PHIDIAS AND THE PARTHENON

The Embellishment of Athens under Pericles. — Phidias, Ictinus, and Callicles. — The
Building of the Parthenon and of the Erectheum. — The Structure of Greek Temples.
— The Three Orders. — The Technical Perfection of the Parthenon. — The Propylasa,
the Erechtheum, and the Temple of Nike Apteros. — The Sculptures of the Parthe
non. — The' Chryselephantine Statues of Athene and of Zeus. — Furtwaengler's Re
construction of the Lemnian Athene. — The Venus of Milo.

From about 460 to 435 B.C. Peri
cles was the head of the Athenian

FIG. 57. — RECONSTRUCTED VIEW OF THE
ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS.
From R to L. : Erechtheum, Colossal Statue of
Athene Promachos by Phidias, Parthenon,
Propylasa, Temples of Athene Ergane and
Nike' Apteros.
(Springer and Michaelis, Kunstgeschichte.
Seemann, Leipzig.)
democracy, and the master of all the
resources of the Athenian state. His
dictatorship may be described as one
of persuasion. Admirable in spite of
certain grave defects of character, he
had a passion for the beautiful, and to
his initiative we owe one of the most
exquisite things in the world, the Par
thenon (Figs. 57-59)-
Phidias, the sculptor, was the friend
and counsellor of Pericles in all mat
ters relating to the embellishment of
Athens. Surrounded by a numerous
band of artists, some of whom, such as

Ictinus and Callicles, were men of
superior talents, Phidias directed and
superintended all the work. His posi
tion was much like that of Raphael at
the court of Leo X. during the decora
tion of the Stame and Loggie of the
Vatican. Like Raphael, he was not
the sole author of the works he con
ceived or inspired ; but he left the
sovereign impress of his genius upon
them all.
The tutelary divinity of Athens was
Athene Parthenos, that is to say, the
Virgin; the temple which was her
dwelling was called the Parthenon.
The ancient stone Parthenon on the
Acropolis had been destroyed by the
Persians in 480 b.c, and Pericles
determined to build another, larger
and more sumptuous. For twenty-
years, the quarries of Attica yielded

FIG. 58. — VIEW OF THE PARTHENON.

42

PHIDIAS AND THE PARTHENON

their most beautiful marbles to thou
sands of artists and workmen. Their
labours, favoured by a period of com
parative peace, were completed in
435 B.C. Soon afterwards, they began
to rebuild in marble the little temple
of Poseidon and Erechtheus, called the
Erechtheion, to the north of the Par
thenon ; it was not finished until 410,
after the death of Pericles, who fell a
victim to the plague in 429. The
Peloponnesian war had already begun,
casting a shadow of mourning over
the close of the century.
Parisians, and visitors to Paris,
having seen the church of the Made
leine, have some general idea of the

FIG. sg. — CORNER OF THE PARTHENON.
From a drawing by Niemann.
(Springer and Michaelis, Kunstgeschichle.
Seemann, Leipzig.)
form of a Greek temple. It is essen
tially a rectangular building, with doors,
but without windows, surrounded on
all sides by a single or double row
of columns, which, while supporting
the roof, seem to mount guard round
the dwelling of the god (cella). On
the two shorter sides of the temple,

FIG. 60. — THE PORTICO OF THE CARYATIDES, THE
ERECHTHEUM, ATHENS.
the roof forms a triangle called the
pediment, which is sometimes deco
rated with statues. The upper part of
the wall is adorned with bas-reliefs,
forming the frieze. When the temple
is of the Doric order, like the Par
thenon, the upper part, of the archi
trave supported by the columns is
composed of slabs with three vertical
ribs called triglyphs, alternating with
other slabs, sometimes plain, some
times ornamented with reliefs known
as metopes (Fig. 59).
Greek architecture made use of
three orders, that is to say, three prin
cipal types of columnar construction.
The most ancient, to which belong the
Parthenon, the temple of Zeus at
Olympia, the temple of Aphaia at
jEgina, the temples of Sicily and
Southern Italy (Passtum, Selinus, and
Agrigentum), is called Doric, because
the ancients believed it was invented
by the Dorians. In the Doric order
the column was not very lofty; it was
crowned by a simple capital, composed
of a part that formed an expanding
curve and was called the echinus, and
of a square slab called the abacus. In
the Ionic order, the great examples of
which are in Asia Minor, at Ephesus,
and Priene, though there is also a

43

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 6l. — TEMPLE OF NIKE APTEROS, ON THE
ACROPOLIS.
Lateral view.
beautiful specimen on the Athenian
Acropolis (Fig. 61), the column is more
slender, and it is crowned by a capital
which is like a cushion with volutes.
Finally, the Corinthian order, which
was chiefly used in the Roman period,
as also during the Renaissance and
in our own times, is characterised by
a capital which reproduces a cluster of
acanthus leaves.
Both the Doric and the Ionic orders
are derived from the forms used in
timber construction. The column was
evolved from the wooden post which
upheld a beam. The shaft was
strengthened at the top to receive

FIG. 62. — GROUP OF THE FATES.
From the eastern pediment of the Parthenon.
(British Museum.)
(Photo, by Mansell.)
the beam, by the addition of a cube
or slab, and this expansion was the

origin of the capital. The Corinthian
capital was adopted at a period when
Greek artists had forgotten the ex
igencies of timber construction or they
would hardly have proposed to support
a burden on a bunch of leaves.
The Doric order is marked by a
solidity, a virile robustness which con
trasts with the somewhat frail and
feminine elegance of the Ionic order.
The Corinthian order suggests luxury
and splendour. One of the most strik
ing proofs of the genius of the Greeks
is the fact that neither the Renaissance
nor modern art has created a new

MmjjM 'ill

MA

FIG. 63. — PROCESSION OF ATHENIAN MAIDENS,
From the Frieze of the Parthenon.
(British Museum.)
order; our architecture continues to
rely upon the wealth of the Greek
orders, which lend themselves to the
most varied combinations.
The most admirable feature of the
Parthenon is, perhaps, its perfection o!
proportion. The relation between the
height of the columns, their thickness,
the height of the pediments, and the
dimensions of the temple was deter
mined with such unerring judgment
that the whole is neither too light nor
too heavy, that the lines harmonise in
such a manner as to give the impres
sion at once of strength and grace.
The technical perfection of the con-

44

PHIDlAS AND THE PARTHENON

struction is no less amazing. The
great blocks of marble, the drums of
the columns, are joined and adjusted
without cement, as exactly as the most
delicate piece of goldsmith's work.
Modern architecture, which makes
such a lavish use of cement, has never
been able to compete with the work
men directed by Ictinus.
The Parthenon is now a ruin. The
Byzantines used it as a church ; it was
gutted by an explosion in 1687; in
1803, Lord Elgin carried off the greater

Aa*-J

y

V§'»' "'-' Au."

jZSZ

' rrW r*-£ ¦¦ A 'f Cl

J»

FIG. 64. — HORSEMEN.
From the Frieze of the Parthenon.
(British Museum.)
(Photo, by Mansell.)
part of the sculptures, which are now
the pride of the British Museum. But
the wreck remains a masterpiece and
a place of pilgrimage for all humanity.
A magnificent portico, the Propylasa,
gave access to the Parthenon from the
side nearest the sea ; it was decorated
with paintings which have disappeared.
The little temple of Poseidon and
Erechtheus, to the north of the
Parthenon, is better preserved; it is
flanked by a portico where, in place
of columns, the architect introduced
female figures, to which the ancients
gave the name of Caryatides (Fig. 60),

FIG. 65. — ZEUS, APOLLO, AND PEITHO.
From the Frieze of the Parthenon, at
Athens.
because they supposed them to re
present young maidens carried away
captive from the city of Caryas in
Laconia. Another little Ionic temple,
that of the Wingless Victory (Nike
Apteros), was restored after 1830 with
fragments found in a Turkish bastion.
It stands in front of the Propylasa
(Fig. 61).
The pediments of the Parthenon
represented the birth of Athene, and
the dispute between Athene and

FIG. 66. — HEAD OF PEITHO.
From the Frieze of the Parthenon.
(Museum, Athens.)

45

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Poseidon for the possession of Attica
(Fig. 62). On the metopes were carved
the battles of the
Centaurs and
the L a p i t h as .
The subject of
the frieze was
the procession
of the Panathe-
nasa, the princi
pal festival of
the goddess, on
which occasion
the young girls
of the noblest
families, clad in
the long chiton
falling in verti
cal folds, came
to offer Athene
a new veil woven
> for her. These
young girls, bearing different objects,
walk in an imposing cortege of
old men, matrons, soldiers, horse
men, and men leading the sacrificial

FIG. 67. — REDUCED COPY
OF THE ATHENE PAR-
THENOS OF PHIDIAS.
(Museum, Athens.)

FIG. 68. — HEAD OF ZEUS, STYLE OF PHIDIAS.
(Nv-Carlsberg Gallery, near Copenhagen.)

46

beasts. They advance towards a
group representing the gods in the
centre of the eastern front; this part
of the frieze is, fortunately, one of the
best preserved portions of the whole
(Figs. 63, 64, 65).
Inside the temple was a chrysele
phantine statue (i.e. a statue of gold
and ivory) of Athene standing. This
and the seated Zeus, also of gold and
ivory, in the temple
of Olympia, were,
according to the an
cients, the master
pieces of Phidias.
Both have disap
peared; but we can
form some idea of
the Athene Par-
thenos from a little
marble copy dis
covered at Athens
in 1880, near a mo
dern school called
the Varvakeion
(Fig. 67). No copy
of the Zeus has
come down to us ;
but it is probable
that a beautiful
marble head in the
Ny-Carlsberg collection in Denmark
reproduces the majestic features of the
god with sufficient accuracy (Fig. 68).
Another Athene by Phidias, a
colossal bronze, about 30 feet high,
stood in front of the Parthenon on the
north west. It was called the Athene
Promachos, that is to say, the Guardian.
I think I discovered a copy of it in a
little statuette of very fine quality, now
at Boston; it came from the neigh
bourhood of Coblentz, where a legion
known as the Minervia was stationed
under the Roman Empire (Fig. 69).

FIG. 69. — STATUETTE
OF ATHENE PRO ¦
MACHOS.
(Museum, Boston.)

PHIDIAS AND THE PARTHENON

Lastly, by combining a head at
Bologna with a torso at Dresden,
Herr Furtwaengler has reconstituted
an admirable statue, the marble copy
of a bronze original, which, in common
with various other experts, he pro
nounces to have been an Athene by
Phidias, the one executed by the
master for the Athenian settlers on the
isle of Lemnos (Fig. 70).
Classic writers have not asserted in
as many words that the sculptures of
the Parthenon were by Phidias him
self; but it is certain that they were
executed under his direction. To form
any idea of this series of masterpieces,
we must study not only the sculptures
in the British Museum and the Louvre,
but the casts of the whole series in
London and Paris. As a magnificent
specimen of the
whole, I would
call attention to
the group of the
three goddesses,
generally called
the Three Fates,
from th'e eastern
pediment, whose
draperies are in
describably beau
tiful, and some
fragments of the
frieze, the despair
of all artists who
have striven to
imitate their noble
composition, their'
serene majesty,
and infinite va
riety. If we examine
the type of all
these heads(Fig. 71), we shall be struck,
not only by their vigorous forms and

FIG. 70. — COPY OF AN
ATHENE ATTRIBUTED
TO PHIDIAS.
(Museum, Dresden; the
head at Bologna.)
(Furtwaengler, Master
pieces of Greek Sculpture.
Scribner, New York.)

FIG. 71. — HEAD OF ARTEMIS.
From the eastern pediment of the Parthenon.
(Laborde Collection, Paris.)
(Photograph by Giraudon.)

the robust oval of the faces, charac
terised by a certain squareness of out
line, but by two traits which appear
in all of them alike: the short distance
between the eyebrow and the eyelid,
and the uniform protuberance of the
eyelids. These are relics of the archaic
style. The general impression they
produce is that of a serene and self-
reliant strength, a quality that breathes
from all the art of Phidias (Fig. 72).
But there are other things in human
nature besides strength, serenity, and
beauty; enthusiasm, for instance, and
reverie, and passion, and suffering,
clamant or discreet. These were the
things that remained to be expressed
in marble after Phidias ; we shall see
how his successors carried out the
task. I cannot turn from the work of
Phidias, whose pupils (Agoracritus,
Alcamenes) continued to work during
the first decades of the fourth century,

47

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 72. — HEAD OF A STATUE OF APOLLO
(PERHAPS AFTER PHIDIAS).
(Museum of the Thermae, Rome.)
without speaking of the masterpiece in
the Louvre, the statue discovered in
1820 in the island of Melos (Figs. 73,
74). Though the majority of modern
archasologlsts pronounce it to be a

¦ 73- — VENUS OF MILO (APHRODITE OF MELOS).
(The Louvre.)
(Photograph by Giraudon.)

work dating from about 100 B.C.,
I am convinced that it is some three
centuries older than this ; and I be
lieve it to be a masterpiece of the
school of Phidias, representing, not
Venus, but the goddess of the sea,
Amphitrite, holding a trident in her
extended left arm. One reason I give
for this belief is, that we find in it all
the qualities that go to make up the
genius of Phidias, and nothing that is
alien to it. The Venus of Milo is

FIG. 74. — HEAD OF THE VENUS OF MILO.
(The Louvre.)
neither elegant, nor dreamy, nor
nervous, nor impassioned ; she is
strong and serene. Her beauty is all
noble simplicity and calm dignity, like
that of the Parthenon and its sculp
tures. Is not this the reason the statue
has become and has remained so popu
lar, in spite of the mystery of the much-
discussed attitude ? Agitated and
feverish generations see in it the high
est expression of the quality they most
lack, that serenity which is not apathy,
but the equanimity of mental and
bodily health.

48

PHIDIAS AND THE PARTHENON

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER VI.
M. Collignon, Histoire de la Sculpture Grecque, vols. i. and ii., Paris, 1892, 1897; G.
Perrot and Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de VArt, vol. vii., Paris, 1898 (the Greek orders, elements
of architecture); A. Choisy, Histoire de V Architecture, vol. i., Paris, 1899; H. Lechat,
Le Temple Grec, Paris, 1902 ; E. Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture, London, 1896 ; A.
Furtwaengler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, London, 1895 ; A. Michaelis, Der Par
thenon, Leipzig, 1870-1871 (with a volume of plates); A. Michaelis and A. Springer,
Handbuch der Kunstgesckichte, 6th ed., vol., i., Leipzig, 1901; A. Murray, The Sculptures
of the Parthenon, London, 1903 ; Bruno Sauer, Der Laborde'sche Kopf, Giessen, 1903 ;
and Das sogenannte Theseion, Leipzig, 1899 ; S. Reinach, Repertoire de la Statuaire, Paris,
1897-1904; TUcs Antiques, Paris, 1903. For the controversies concerning the Venus of
Milo, see the Revue Archeologique, 1902, ii., p. 217, which gives all theTecent bibliography.
Shorter Studies: E. Michon, Tete d' Athlete (from Benevento) in the Louvre (Monu
ments Piot, vol. i., p. 77); E. Pottier, La TSte au Cecryphale (Bullet, de Correspondance
hellenique, vol. xx., 1896, p. 445; study on the feminine type of Phidias); S. Reinach,
Tites de VEcole de Phidias (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1902, ii., p. 449).

49

VII
PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS

The Modification of the Athenian Temperament brought about by the Peloponnesian
War. — The Philosophic Art of Scopas and Praxiteles. — The Irene and Plutus of
Cephisodotus. — The Hermes with the Infant Dionysus of Praxiteles. — Other Works
by the Master. — Lord Leconfield's Head of Aphrodite. — The Sculptures of the Temple
of Tegaea. — Passion the Characteristic of Scopas' Art. — Lysippus and his Work in
Bronze. — The Apoxyomenus. — The Borghese Warrior. — The Woman of Hercula-
neum at Dresden. — The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. — The Group of Niobe and
her Children. — The Victory oj Samolhrace. — The Demeler oj Cnidus. — Funereal
Stelae. — The Ceramicus at Athens.

The Peloponnesian War, under
taken by Pericles in 432 b.c, came to
an end in 404 b.c. with the capture of
Athens. These disasters brought about
a religious and political reaction, the
most illustrious victim of which was
Socrates (399 B.C.). Meanwhile Athens,
though conquered and humiliated by
Sparta, never ceased to be the intellec
tual capital of
Hellas; it
might even be
said that her
s overeignty
became more
extensive and
firmly rooted
in the fourth
century. But
her character,
ripened by ad-
v e r s i t y, had
changed. In
addition to
this, the school
of philosophy
founded by
Socrates and
carried on by
Plato, bore
fruit; it inculcated reflection, self-
examination, and fostered depth and

FIG. 75. — IRENE AND
PLUTUS.
Copy of a group by
Cephisodotus.
(Museum, Munich.)

subtlety of thought. To the serene art
of the fifth century b.c. succeeded a

Hbij'V**

IIWirJlMm.'¦ ' /Ml
mm •

I| i7W<-

mm

FIG. 76. — HERMES, BY PRAXITELES.
(Museum, Olympia.)
meditative art, the most illustrious
exponents of which were Praxiteles .
and Scopas.
Praxiteles' master, Cephisodotus, is
known/ to us by a statue of Irene
(Peace), carrying the infant Plutus
(Riches) ; there is a good antique copy
of the work at Munich (Fig. 75). The
goddess bends her dreamy head over
the child with an air of tender solici
tude. In the proportions and the

50

PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS

cast of the draperies, this group shows
its close affinity to the school of

-HEAD OF THE HERMES BY
PRAXITELES.

(Museum, Olympia.)

tion has a beauty of which neither
photographs nor casts can give an
adequate idea. A careful examination
of the head reveals two characteristics
which distinguish it from all others
of the fifth century; first, the hair,
treated with a picturesque freedom,
and a determination to' emphasise the
contrast between its furrowed surface
and the polished smoothness of the
flesh; and secondly, the overhanging
brow and deep-set eye, the material
indications of reflection.
Numerous copies of the Roman
period have preserved other works
by Praxiteles for us, at least in
their general features: a Silenus (Fig.
78), a Satyr, two figures of Eros, and
two of Dionysus, an Artemis (Fig. 79),
an Apollo, and perhaps a Zeus. The
most famous of his works among
the ancients was a nude figure of

Phidias; but the sentiment that per
vades it is identical with that which
informs the work of Praxiteles. The
Irene dates probably from the year
370 B.C.
By Praxiteles, who was born about
380 b.c, we possess one original work,
which was found in 1877 in the temple
of Hera at Olympia, in the very
spot where Pausanias had noted its
presence. It is a group representing
Hermes carrying the youthful Diony
sus, whom Zeus had confided to his
care (Figs. 76, 77). The analogy of
the conception with that of Cephiso
dotus' group has often been pointed
out. But the Hermes shows a greater
independence of the Phidian tradition
than the Irene. It is characterised by
a sinuous, almost feminine, grace, and
an intensity of spiritual life which is a
new phenomenon in art. The execu-

FIG. 78. — SILENUS AND INFANT DIONYSUS.
(Upper part of a group in the Louvre, perhaps after
Phidias.)

51

Aphrodite about to enter the sea,
which was long' admired in the temple
E 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

of the goddess at Cnidus. Unfor
tunately, the copies that have come
down to us are very mediocre (Fig.
80). But in Lord Leconfield's London
house there is a head of Aphrodite, so
marvellously supple in execution and
so exquisitely suave in expression that
we may fairly accept it as the work,
if not of Praxiteles himself, then of one
of his immediate pupils (Fig. 81). The
characteristics of the feminine ideal as
conceived by this great and fascinating
genius are all clearly defined in this
head. The form of the face, hitherto
round, has become oval; the eyes,
instead of being fully opened, are half
closed, and have that particular expres
sion which the ancients described as
"liquid"; the
eyebrows are
but slightly
marked, and the
attenuation o f
the eyelids is
such, that they
melt, by almost
insensible gra-
d a t i o n s , into
the adjoining
planes. The
hair, like that
of the Hermes,
is freely model
led; and finally,
the whole re
veals a preoc
cupation with
effects of chiaro
scuro, of a sub
dued play of
light and sha
dow, which precludes any lingering
vestiges of harshness and angularity.
It is here that we note the influence
of painting upon sculpture. The

FIG. 79. — ARTEMIS,
KNOWN AS THE DIANA
OF GABII.
Perhaps after Praxiteles.
(The Louvre.)

FIG. 80. — HEAD OF AN ANTIQUE COPY OF THE APHRO
DITE OF CNIDUS BY PRAXITELES.
(The Vatican.)
(Photograph by Alinari.)
achievements of Attic painting are
entirely unknown to us; but as the
ancients extolled them as equal to
the sculptures, we may believe that
they were indeed masterpieces. The
most renowned painter of the fifth
century, Polygnotus, was, we are told,
less pre-eminent as a colourist than as
a draughtsman, whereas those of the
fourth century, Parrhasius, Zeuxis, and
Apelles, were above all colourists. If
their pictures had been preserved to
us, we should perhaps have found them
more akin to Correggio than to Man-
tegna, or Bellini. The suavity of a
head like Lord Leconfield's Aphrodite
does, as a fact, recall Correggio; we
recognise in it that essentially pictorial
quality which the Italian critics call
sfumato, meaning a vaporous grada
tion of tones, a melting of one tint
into another.
Scopas survives for us in certain
heads from the pediments of the tem
ple of Tegasa (about 360 B.C.). The study'

5s

PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS

of these fragments has enabled us to
recognise the same style in a number
of Roman marbles, copies of works by
Scopas. We may form some idea of
it from two heads, one that of a war
rior from the pediment of Tegasa, the
other a beardless Heracles (Fig. 82).
The oval of the face is less pronounced
than with Praxiteles, but the eyes are
more deeply set, and the eyebrow forms
a strong projection, casting a semi
circle of shadow above the eye. This
peculiarity, combined with the marked
undulation of the lips, gives an im
passioned and almost suffering expres
sion to Scopas' heads; we seem to
divine in them the intensity of a
struggle against desire, the anguish of
unsatisfied aspirations.
Here lay the originality of Scopas.
Praxiteles expressed a. languorous
reverie in his marbles, Scopas gave
utterance in his to passion.

FIG. 81. — HEAD OF APHRODITE.
(Lord Leconfield's Collection, London.)
The third great artist of the fourth
century, Lysippus, was younger than

FIG. 82.-

-HEADS OF THE SCHOOL OF SCOPAS.
(Athens and Florence.)

the two others. He was the accredited
sculptor of Alexander the Great, and
worked principally in bronze, whereas
Praxiteles and Scopas won renown
mainly by their works in marble. Ly
sippus was born at Sicyon, a town in
the Peloponnesus; he declared that
his sole teachers had been Nature and
Polyclitus' Doryphorus, that figure of
an athlete which was known as the
Canon. Polyclitus, as I have said,
was a native of Argos. Thus the art
of Lysippus presents itself as a kind
of Doric reaction against Attic art,
which tended to lay an increasing
stress on sentiment, and might be
thought to incline to effeminacy and
"sensuality. Lysippus modified the
Canon of Polyclitus, that is to say, the
classic tradition of the fifth century, by
a more marked tendency to elegance,
making his bodies nearly eight times
the length of the head (instead of seven
times), and emphasising the joints and
muscles at the expense of their fleshy-
covering. His heads express neither
reverie nor passion ; they are content
to be merely nervous and refined.
There is in the Vatican a good copy
of his best statue of an athlete, the
Apoxyomenus, rubbing his arm with a
strigil to remove the oil and dust of

53

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the palestra (Figs. 83, 84). It is
probable that the famous Borghese
Wrestler in the
Louvre, another
athlete, also re
produces a bronze
original by Lysip
pus ; the artist
who has signed
his name on this
fine, but some
what frigid study
of the nude, Aga-
sias of Ephesus,
was obviously
only the copyist
(Fig. 85). A statue
of an athlete, dis
covered at Del
phi, is another
copy of a lost
bronze by Lysip-
There is a cast from it in the
Lastly, there are several

FIG. 83. — COPY OF THE
APOXYOMENUS BY LY
SIPPUS.
(The Vatican.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)

pus. Louvre
statues of Heracles and of Alexander
the Great, derived from originals by

FIG. 84. — HEAD OF THE APOXYOMENUS BY
LYSIPPUS.
(The Vatican.)

the master. I have suggested that we
should further ascribe to him the ori
ginal of a female statue of which there
are many reproductions; the best, dis
covered at Herculaneum, is preserved
at Dresden (Figs. 86, 87). This femi
nine type, the head of which shows
analogies with that of the Apoxyo-
menus, is certainly one of the most
beautiful creations of antique art ; her
draperies have such simplicity and

FIG. 85. — THE BORGHESE WARRIOR.
(The Louvre.)
grandeur that they still find many
imitators. Four sculptors, Scopas, Bryaxis,
Leochares, and Timotheus worked
about the year 350 b.c. on the decora
tions of the Mausoleum at Halicar-
nassus, raised by Artemisia, Queen of
Caria, to the memory of her husband
Mausolus. Thanks to Newton's ex
cavations in 1857, the British Museum
possesses a series of statues and
bas-reliefs which formerly decorated
this mausoleum. Two fine statues,
representing Mausolus and Artemisia,

54

PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS

crowned the structure (Fig. 88). The
statue of Mausolus is one of the most
ancient Greek portraits known to us,
and is all the more remarkable in that
the face of the model was not that of a
Hellene, but of a Carian, that is to
say, a semi-barbarian. The draperies,
modelled with a perfect compre
hension of the play of light and
shadow, mark a stage in the pro
gress that led up
to the masterpiece
of classic drapery,
the Victory of Sa-
motjirace. The bas-reliefs of
the Mausoleum re
present a battle of
Greeks and Ama
zons ; it is very
instructive to com
pare these with the
frieze of the Par
thenon. We find
in them all the
characteristics o f
the new art, a taste
for lively and sud
den movement, for
the picturesque and
the effective, an
elegance which does not preclude
vigour, but which sometimes verges
on excessive refinement (Fig. 89).
Even in classic times it seems to
have been an open question whether
Scopas or Praxiteles should be
credited with the authorship of the
famous group of Niobe and her child
ren, struck down by the arrows of
Apollo and Artemis. Antique copies
of several figures of the composition,
varying a good deal in quality, are pre
served in Florence, Rome, Paris (the
Louvre), and elsewhere. To judge by

FIG. 86. — COPY OF
THE MNEMOSYNE (?)
BY LYSIPPUS.
(Museum, Dresden.)

fig. 87.-

-HEAD OF THE MNEMOSYNE BY
LYSIPPUS.

(Museum, Dresden.)

these copies, the originals must have
been works of the school of Scopas.
In the centre was Niobe with her
youngest daughter, a group of which

FIG. 88. — ARTEMISIA AND MAUSOLUS.
Statues from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
(British Museum.)
(Photograph by Levy.)

55

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 8g. — COMBAT OF GREEK AND AMAZONS.
Bas-relief from the Frieze of the Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus.
(British Museum.)

Victory of Samothrace. We are again
reminded of this Victory by another
fine figure from the Niobid group,
known to us by an excellent copy in
the Vatican. Here the analogy is
most evident in the movement, and in
the picturesque cast of the drapery.
The date of the Victory of Samo
thrace (Fig. 91), which the Louvre is
fortunate enough to possess, is well

there is a copy at Florence (Fig. 90).
The deeply pathetic motive, that of a
mother who sees her daughter killed
before her eyes, is treated with noble
simplicity; we find as yet no trace of
the physical anguish, the painful con
tortions of the Laocoon. The child,
pressed closely to the mother, is an
admirable conception. Her trans
parent tunic, clinging to her young
body, and gathered into innumerable
little pleats, bears witness to the in
fluence of painting upon sculpture.
We shall find a diaphanous pleated
tunic of the same sort draping the

BIG. 90.-

-NIOBE AND HER YOUNGEST DAUGHTER.
(Ufnzi, Florence.)

56

FIG. 91. — NIKE (VICTORY) OF SAMOTHRACE.
(The Louvre.)
authenticated. The figure, which stands
on the prow of a galley, blowing a
trumpet, was carved to commemorate
a naval victory gained in 306 B.C. by
Demetrius Poliorcetes over the Egyp
tian King Ptolemy, off the island of
Cyprus. Two influences were at that
time predominant in Greek sculpture,
that of Lysippus, and that of the school
of Scopas; it was the latter which
inspired the Victory. The irresistible
energy, the victorious swing of the

PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS

body, the quivering life that seems to
animate the marble, the happy con
trast afforded by the flutter of the
wind-swept mantle, and the adherence
of the closely-fitting tunic to the torso,
combine to make the statue the most
exquisite expression of movement left
to us by antique art. The sculptor
has not only translated muscular
strength and triumphant grace into
marble; he has also suggested the
intensity of the sea-breeze, that breeze
the breath of which Sully Prudhomme,
too, has caught in a verse winged like
the Victory herself: —
" Un peu du grand zephir qui souffle a
Salamine."
A life-size statue of Demeter, seated,
and mourning for her daughter Perse
phone, carried off by Pluto, was dis
covered by Newton at Cnidus, and is
now in the British Museum (Fig. 92).
It is a work dating from about 340 b.c
and betrays the double influence of
Praxiteles and Scopas. It has often

FIG. 92. — DEMETER OE CNIDUS.
(British Museum.)

FIG. 93. — STELA OF HEGESO.
(Museum, Athens.)
(Photograph by Giraudon.)

been compared to those figures of the
Mater Dolorosa so frequent in the art
of the Renaissance. But if we examine
it closely, we shall see that the differ
ences are more profound than the
analogies. The grief of the heathen
mother. is reticent and subdued; it is
suggested rather than proclaimed.
We shall see that after the fourth cen
tury the ancients did not shrink from
realistic expression of the most intense
physical suffering; but they expressed
moral suffering only in a discreet
and chastened form. A figure like
Roger van der Weyden's Mater Dolo
rosa is entirely alien to classic genius.
This expression of discreet sorrow
gives charm to a great number of
funereal stela, by anonymous artists,
which are among the purest and most
delicate productions of Attic art in the
fourth century (Figs 93 — 95). The re
gret of survivors is expressed in these
with so much reserve that their signifi
cance has not always been understood,

57

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

and they have been supposed to repre
sent the dead reunited to the members

FIG. 94. — FRAGMENT OF AN ATTIC TOMBSTONE.
(Museum, Athens.)
of their family in the Elysium of the
blest. Despair is never suggested in
these compositions; gestures and
countenances are alike placid; a
slight inclination of the head is all
that reveals the pensive intention of
the sculptor. One of the most beauti
ful of these moments is the Athenian
stela which represents a dead woman,
seated, taking a jewel from a casket
held by a serving-woman (Fig. 93).
The deceased is shown engaged in
one of the familiar occupations of her
earthly life. We must not look here
for any mystic meaning, any promise
of a happy life beyond the tomb.
But the veil of sadness that obscures
the charming faces is woven with
true Attic subtlety. How noble is this

tearless sorrow which conceals itself
with a certain modesty, and over a
newly-made grave, recalls a smile of
the lost one. Fortunately for us, we
have many means of entering into the
secrets of the classical mind. We can
read Euripides and Plato, Xenophon
and Socrates, the fragments of Mas-
nander, we can study hundreds of
statues and painted vases. But nothing,
not even the most beautiful of Plato's
pages, can so familiarise us with an
tiquity, can make us so appreciate
its delicate taste and the • infinite
refinement of its grace as a walk
through the Ceramicus of Athens, the
quarter of Tombs, where amidst the
spring scents of mint and thyme, we
breathe another perfume, that of the

FIG. 95. — FRAGMENT OF AN ATTIC TOMBSTONE.
(Museum, Athens.)
unique and immortal flower of human
genius we call Atticism.

58

PRAXITELES, SCOPAS, AND LYSIPPUS

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER VII
M. Collignon, Histoire de la Sculpture grecque, vol. ii., Paris, 1897 (descriptions of the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Niobe and her children, etc.) ; E. Gardner and S. Reinach,
works quoted on p. 49; Klein, Praxiteles, Leipzig, 1898, and Praxitelische Studien, Leipzig,
1899; B. Graef, Rdmische Mittheilungen, vol. iv., 1889, p. 189 (on Scopas); G. Mendel,
Fouilles de Tegee (Bulletin de Correspondance hellenique, 1901, vol. xxv., p. 241); Th.
Homolle, Lysippe et Vex-voto de Daochos at Delphi (Bulletin, 1899, vol. xxiii., p. 421);
S. Reinach, Strongylion (Revue Archeologique, 1904, i., p. 28); Le Type jeminin de Lysippe
(ibid., 1900, ii., p. 380; on the Herculanean statue at Dresden); O. Rayet, Monuments de
VArt Antique, vol. ii., pi. 64 (the Borghese Warrior); C. B. Stark, Niobe und die Niobiden,
Leipzig, 1863; A. Furtwaengler, Masterpieces (English translation, London, 1895; analysis
in the Revue Critique, 1894, i., p. 97); P. Gardner, Sculptured Tombs of Hellas, London,
1896. On the influence of Painting: S. Girard, La Peinture Antique, Paris, no date; A.
Michaelis, Von griechischer Malerei (Deutsche Revue, 1903, p. 210).

59

VIII

GREEK ART AFTER ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Che Conquests of Alexander and their Influence on Greek Art. — The Rise of Alexandria,
Antioch, and Pergamum. — The Hellenistic Epoch. — The Schools of Rhodes and
Pergamum. — The First Representation of the Barbarian and of Nature in Art. — The
Dying Gaul, formerly known as the Dying Gladiator. — The Altar of Zeus at Per
gamum. — The Laocoon. — The Belvedere Apollo. — The Pourtales Apollo. — The
Centaur and Eros. — The so-called Sarcophagus of Alexander.

In the year 336 b.c Alexander of
Macedon succeeded his father Philip ;
he was but twenty years old. After
consolidating his father's work in
Greece, by taking and laying waste
Thebes, and subduing Athens, he
conquered successively Asia Minor,
Syria, Egypt, Persia, Bactriana, and
the north of India, and died at Baby
lon in 323 b.c. His generals divided
his vast empire between them, and
established Greek civilisation from the
banks of the Nile to those of the Oxus
and the Indus. India, which had re
ceived the rudiments of her art from
Persia, thus became the pupil of
Greece, but she remained a capricious
pupil, whose temperament, recalcitrant
to every kind of rule and measure,
was destined to produce a totally dif
ferent style.
The consequences of Alexander's vic
tories were momentous for Hellenism
and for Greek art. Athens ceased to
be the centre of the latter; her in
tellectual supremacy passed to the
Alexandria of the Ptolemies in Egypt;
to the Antioch of the Seleucidas in
Syria, and the Pergamum of the At-
talidas in Asia Minor. Thus uprooted

and internationalised, Hellenism lost
in purity what it gained in extent. Its
political organisation underwent a
complete change. The small Greek
states with their free cities, were
supplanted by Oriental monarchies,
with hereditary sovereigns wielding
almost absolute power. Art worked
primarily for these sovereigns and the
new capitals they sought to beautify;
its aim was to dazzle by material
greatness and splendour, and it strove
after grandiose effects rather than
perfection of form and workmanship.
The term Hellenistic Epoch is ap
plied to the period comprised between
the death of Alexander (323 b.c) and
the conquest of Greece by the Romans
(146 b.c), to distinguish it from the
Hellenic Epoch. During this period
art made a rapid evolution, and un
derwent a complete transformation,
which cannot, however, be described
as decadence, for amidst these changes
were born and developed new elements,
the destined heritage of modern art.
After serene strength (Phidias), lan
guorous grace (Praxiteles), passion
(Scopas), and nervous elegance (Ly
sippus), art had yet to express physical

60

GREEK ART AFTER ALEXANDER THE GREAT

suffering, anguish, the tumult and dis
order of the soul and the body, and
this was admirably done by the
schools of Rhodes and Pergamum.
But this was not all. After having
fixed the types of gods and heroes, and
sculptured amazons and athletes, art
had still to render the individual man,
to create portraiture; it had further
to admit into its sphere beings who
were neither gods nor Greeks, to re
present, with a due regard for reality
and picturesqueness, barbarians such
as the Ethiopian and the Gaul. This
was accomplished mainly at Perga
mum and Alexandria. Genre sculp
ture, the familiar treatment of familiar
themes, scarcely existed ; the Alexand
rians developed it, following the ex
ample set them in the art of ancient
Egypt. Finally, in addition to gods and men.

of landscape to the world ; rural scenes,
in all their rustic simplicity, made their

FIG. 96. — GAUL KILLING HIMSELF AFTER KILLING
HIS WIFE.
Formerly in the Ludovisi Collection.
(Museum of the Therma:, Rome.)
there was nature, hitherto neglected.
The Hellenistic artists taught the art

FIG. 97. — THE DYING GAUL.
(Museum of the Capitol, Rome.)
(From a photograph by Anderson.)
appearance not only in painting, but
in statuary and bas-reliefs. All this
progress, all these interesting innova
tions, were brought about in less than
two centuries. The period that wit
nessed them is one of the great epochs
of the human mind.
Among the Hellenistic capitals,
Pergamum, to the north of Smyrna,
is the one of which we. know most.
About 240 B.C. King Attalus repulsed
the Gauls who had invaded Asia
Minor after devastating Delphi in 278
B.C. To commemorate his victory,
he made votive offerings of bronze
statues representing vanquished Gauls.
Marble copies of several of these
were found in Rome in the sixteenth
century; the two most important are,
a Gaul killing himself after having
killed his wife (Fig.96), and the famous
statue, erroneously called the Dying
Gladiator (Fig. 97). The so-called
gladiator is clearly a Gaul, for his
neck is encircled by a torque, and
his physical type, his shield and
his trumpet, have nothing Greek in
their character. The Dying Gladiator is
a work at once realistic and pathetic;

6l

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the Greek sculptor — he was called
Epigonus — was interested in the brave
and robust barbarian, who had met his
death so far from his own land, a
victim to his adventurous spirit. The
treatment of the marble recalls that of
the Warrior in the Louvre, and allows
us to ascribe the statue to the school
of Lysippus.
At a later date, about 195 B.C., an
other king of Pergamum, Eumenes II. ,
commemorated other military successes
by the erection of a colossal altar in
white marble, dedicated to Zeus, on
the Acropolis of Pergamum. The re
mains of this were brought to light by
a German archasological mission. The
base was decorated with a frieze in
high relief representing the contest
between the Gods and the Giants.
The Hellenes saw in this frieze an

FIG. 98. — ATHENE SLAYING A YOUNG GIANT.
Fragment from the Pergamene Frieze.
(Berlin Museum.)
(Photograph by Levy and Son.)
allusion to contemporary events: the
Giants of the fable were the Gauls,
the Gods were the Greeks of Asia.

62

Some three hundred feet of this
frieze, the figures on which are six feet
high, were excavated between 1880
and 1890 and taken to the Berlin
Museum. As a complete decorative
composition, this is the most imposing
achievement that has come down to
us from antiquity; the first impression
made on the spectator by these colossal
sculptures is dazzling. On closer ex
amination, defects become apparent;
there is a tendency to exaggeration, a
certain monotony of violence and
agitation; but, on the other hand, what
a profusion of admirable episodes,
what wealth of motive, what a mastery
of the chisel ! If we look about in
modern art for anything to compare
with it, we find only isolated groups or
figures, such as Puget's Milo ofCrotona,
and Rude's Marseillaise; neither the
Renaissance nor the nineteenth century
offers any parallel in the shape of a
sustained and continuous composition.
No artist has imagined a mightier
figure than that of the warring Zeus, a
more moving one than that of the
vanquished giant, for whom his mother
Gasa (The Earth) intercedes, emerging
from the ground to arrest the arm of
Athene (Fig. 98). It is one of the
glories of the art of Pergamum that it
could celebrate victories without re
fusing sympathy to the vanquished.
This eloquence of physical suffering,
so touchingly rendered in the head of
the young giant, is carried still farther
in the famous Laocobn group in the
Vatican, the work of three Rhodian
sculptors, who executed it about the
year 150 b.c (Fig. 99). Now that the
marvels of the great period of Attic
art have been revealed to us, the
Laocoon is no longer for us what it was
to Lessing and his contemporaries, the ¦

GREEK ART AFTER ALEXANDER THE GREAT

highest expression of Greek genius;
but it is undoubtedly the most pathetic

FIG. 99. — LAOCOON AND HIS SONS.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
and the most moving. The Trojan
priest, enveloped in the folds of the
serpents, sees his two sons dying beside
him, and breathes out his own life in
a supreme cry of anguish. A purely
physical anguish, it has been objected,
and the superficial subtlety of this criti
cism has made its fortune. But in the
Laocobn, is not the agony of the dying
man complicated by the pangs of the
father ? And why should the sufferings
of Laocoon be less interesting than
those of the martyrs, whose tortures are
so frequently set forth in modern art?
To decry Greek art after Phidias and
Italian art after Raphael is a very
common form of intellectual snobbish
ness; of those addicted to it, it may
be said that the most venial of their
faults is a total misapprehension of
the evolution of art. If Greek art had
made no further developments after
producing the pediments of the
Parthenon, it would have been as
incomplete in its way as that of

Assyria or of Egypt; we cannot ap
preciate its incomparable grandeur
unless we can admire at once the
productions of its youth, its adole
scence, and its maturity.
Since the middle of the nineteenth
century the prejudices of an intolerant
asstheticism have, in like manner,
tended to belittle the famous Apollo
in the Belvedere of the Vatican
(Fig. ioo). It is a copy of a bronze
statue which must have been executed
a few years after the death of Alex
ander; the original has been attributed,
on no very sufficient evidence, to
Leochares, one of the artists who
worked upon the Mausoleum under
the direction of Scopas. The body of
Apollo offers a complete contrast to
those of the Gods and Giants of the
frieze of Pergamum. In the latter, the
muscles are all strongly emphasised ;
the artist seems to take pleasure in
insisting upon them; in the Apollo,

FIG. IOO. — STATUE KNOWN AS THE APOLLO
BELVEDERE.
(Museum of the Vatican.)

the skeleton is enveloped in flesh and
skin; elegance has been achieved

63

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

at the expense of vigour. The head
of the Belvedere Apollo has character-

FIG. IOI. — HEAD OF APQLLO.
Formerly belonging to the Comte de Pourtales.
(British Museum.)

istics which connect it with the school
at Scopas. The god has just hurled
a dart, and his expression is wrathful ;
but he is at the same time passionate
and uneasy. In Hellenistic art, the
gods have lost their Olympian calm ;
even when victorious and triumphant,
they are agitated.
This characteristic is still more
strongly marked in a beautiful head of
Apollo, formerly in Paris, which passed
from the Pourtales Collection to the
British Museum, and bears a sort of
family likeness to the Apollo Belvedere
(Fig. 101). Why does the Pourtales
Apollo seem to suffer? Is it a musical
frenzy that agitates him, as has been
suggested ? The question has not yet
received a satisfactory answer. But
how remote is this pain or disquietude
which shows itself in the drawn fea
tures of a beautiful face from the
discreet sadness of the Demeter of

Cnidus ! Here Greek art touches the
limit of pagan assthetics, a limit
Christian art will not hesitate to over
step when it represents the Virgin
and St. John bursting into tears at
the foot of the cross.
The head of an old man with a
suffering expression in the Barracco
Collection at Rome would no doubt
have provoked a lively controversy, if
it had not been recognised as a replica
of the head of a Centaur tormented
by Eros, a Hellenistic group, of which
there is a fine copy in the Louvre (Fig.
102). But Eros inflicts no material
torture on the Centaur; he is but the
symbol of the pangs of love. Thus an
unhappy or unsatisfied passion may set
its stigmata on the face just as do the
fangs of the serpents in the Laocobn.
Excelling in the rendering of vivid
and painful emotions, Hellenistic art

FIG. 102. — CENTAUR AND EROS.
(The Louvre.)
(Photograph by Giraudon.)

sought motives for such representa
tions even in tales of mythologic

64

GREEK ART AFTER ALEXANDER THE GREAT

gallantry, finding in them a medium
for the display of its mastery, and
opportunities of interesting by excit
ing sympathy.
The Hellenistic epoch witnessed the
building of a great number of temples,
larger and more ornate than the
Parthenon, though hastier in work
manship and less pure in style. Un
fortunately, but few fragments have
survived of the statues and bas-reliefs
with which they were ornamented. To
get some idea of the great compositions
in relief of this period, we may ex
amine the magnificent sarcophagus
in the museum at Constantinople, dis
covered at Sidon in 1888 (Fig. 103).
This shrine of Attic marble, which
dates from about the year 300 B.C., is
decorated with episodes from the
history of Alexander, and no doubt
contained the body of one of his com
rades, whom his favour had enriched
and exalted. The work is already
eclectic, in so far as we recognise in it
not only the predominant influence of
Scopas, but also that of Lysippus and
of others; yet the genius and in
dividuality of the great artist who
conceived and executed these scenes
is never for a moment obscured. Not
only is the so-called Sarcophagus of
Alexander one of the masterpieces of
Greek art, but of all these masterpieces

it is the one which is most intact,
both as regards the modelling of the

Gsllb
m^mmmsmrT,TmA - ¦¦- -

FIG. 103. — FRAGMENT FROM THE SO-CALLED
SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER.
(Museum, Constantinople.)
figures, which might date from yester
day, and the delicate charm of the
polychromatic colouring. Hellenistic
art is there, though the period it
characterises has but just begun,
Hellenistic art rich with the promise
of all its ulterior developments: life,
movement, emotion, realism in cos
tume and accessories. We know not
which should move us most to wonder,
the genius which produced such a work,
or the strange caprice of the military
chieftain who thrust it away, as soon
as it was finished, into a dark and in
accessible cavern, where the chance of
a fortunate exploration brought it to
light for the joy of the student and
the amazement of the artist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER VIII.
M. Collignon, E. Gardner, S. Reinach, op. cit. p. 49; M. Collignon et E. Pontremoli,
Pergame, Paris, 1900; Furtwaengler, Masterpieces, London, 1895 (The Apollo Belvedere);
S. Reinach, Les Gaulois dans VArt antique, Paris, 1889; Hamdi-Bey et Th. Reinach,
Une Necropole royale a Sidon, Paris, 1892 ; Th. Reinach, Les Sarcophages de Sidon (Gazette
des Beaux Arts, 1892, i., p. 89); Fr. Hauser, Die neu-attischen Reliefs, Stuttgart, 1899;
Th. Schreiber, Die Wiener Brunnenreliefs aus Palazzo Grimani, eine Studie uber das hellen-
istische Reliefbild, Leipzig, 1888; Das Bildniss Alexanders der Grossen, Leipzig, 1903;
E. Courbaud, Le Bas-relief romain, Paris, 1899. — Greek Origin of Hindu Art (Buddhist):
J. Darmesteter, Revue critique, 1885, i., p. 6; Sylvain Levi, Revue des ittudes grecques,
vol. iv. (1891), p. 41 ; A. Gruenwedel, Handbuch der buddhistischen Kunst, 2nd ed., Berlin,
1900; A. Foucher, Sculptures greco-bouddhiques (Monuments Piot, vol. vii., p. 39).
65 F

IX

THE MINOR ARTS IN GREECE

The Artistic Character of Greek Industrial Objects. — Silver and Metal Cups and Vases.
— The Treasures of Hildesheim, Bernay, and Boscoreale. — The Greek Painters. —
The Nozze Aldobrandini. — Mosaics and Frescoes. — Egyptian Portraits of the Grseco-
Roman Period. — Greek Vases : Dipylon, Corinthian, and Etruscan Vases. — Lecythi.
— The manufacture of Vases ceased to be exclusively an Athenian Industry. — The
Industry flourishing in Southern Italy. —Principal Types of Greek Vases. — Terra
cotta Statuettes found at Tanagra and Myrina. — Engraved Gems and Cameos. —
Coins.

The Greek artisan had a natural in
clination to work in the manner of an
artist. When he had to decorate a
vase, a tripod, a mirror, to model a
terra-cotta figurine, to engrave a seal
or a coin, he carried out his work with
an instinctive desire to please the taste
and rejoice the eye. Even in the
humblest crafts, he showed himself the
imitator, and sometimes even the rival
of the great masters of his time. We
may say, indeed, that there was no es
sential difference in Greece between

FIG. 104. — SILVER VASE.
Found at Al&ia (Cote d'Or).
(Museum, St. Germain.)
high art and industrial art, for artists
;and artisans sought inspiration from

the same sources, and displayed the
same unerring taste.
Examples of great Greek art are,
unfortunately, few in number, and
nearly all mutilated. Exposed to
the elements and to accidents of
various kinds, they have been, for the
most part, destroyed or damaged.
Barely fifty antique bronze statues
have come down to us — I mean life-
size statues — and of these only some
fifteen belong to the Greek epoch.
But the productions of the minor arts
were often buried with the dead ; and
they are to be found in great numbers
in tombs, often in exactly the same
state as when they were laid in the
grave by the ancients. To give but a
few examples, the great tombs of the
Crimasa and of Etruria have yielded
gold ornaments extraordinarily beauti
ful in workmanship ; the burial places
of Asia Minor, Greece, Southern
Russia, Etruria and Cyrenaica have
restored to us thousands of painted
vases, terra-cotta figurines, glass
vessels, and engraved stones which
were used as seals. In the same way,
the smaller bronzes have been better
able to escape the destructive forces

66

THE MINOR ARTS IN GREECE

that threaten precious objects than the
large statues. These minor works,
statuettes or reliefs, have made us
familiar with many motives of
sculpture which would have
remained unknown to us but
for them. But the great
majority of them are not re
duced copies of more import
ant works; they were special
ly designed for execution on
a small scale. Finally,
engraved stones or gems,
thanks to their durability,
and coins, thanks to their
number and their relatively small size,
have survived in thousands, and
furnish materials no less precise than
abundant for the history of art.
Besides the ornaments — necklaces,
bracelets, and earrings — taken from
tombs, our museums guard magnifi
cent chased and repousse silver vases,
which chance has preserved from the
greed of man. In some cases they
were buried in the centre of huge
tumuli very difficult to explore (like
the Crimean vases in the Hermit
age at St. Petersburg), in others
they formed the treasure of some
temple or of some private individual,
and were carefully concealed by their
guardians or their owners at the time
of the barbaric invasions (like the
Treasure of Hildesheim, 'Hanover,
now in the Berlin. Museum, and the
Treasure of Bernay, Eure, now in
the Cabinet des Medailles in Paris),
while in others, again, they were lost
in the stress of battle (Fig. 104).
A splendid collection of silver vases
and other objects, presented by M.
Edmond de Rothschild to the Louvre,
was discovered under the ashes of
Vesuvius, at Boscoreale, near Pom

peii. Antique metal vases were often
decorated with plaques in relief, cast
and chased separately, and some of

FIG. 105. — ALDOBRANDINI MARRIAGE.
(Antique painting in the Museum of the Vatican.)
these, better able to resist chemical
action than the vases themselves, have
come down to us though the vessel
they decorated has disappeared.
The great works of the classic
painters have all perished. Polygnotus,
Zeuxis, Parrhasius, Apelles, are but
names to us. The best fresco that has
survived, the nuptial scene known as
the Nozze Aldobrandini in the Vatican
( Fig. 105 ) , so much admired by Poussin,
makes us divine the greatness of our
loss, though it is but the ghost of a
beautiful work.1 The same may be said
of the mosaics, somewhat coarse imita
tions of painting, executed with cubes
of many-coloured stone, which were
used to decorate pavements and occa
sionally walls, notably in the Roman
period. One of the finest mosaics known
is at Naples. It represents the battle
1 In the centre is the bride conversing
with a woman (the paranymph); both are
crowned with garlands; the bridegroom is
seated on the threshold. A third woman
holds a patera with oil for the libations.
To the left, attendants prepare the bath;
on the right, others offer a sacrifice. This
painting was discovered at Rome in 1606,
and belonged at first to Cardinal Aldo
brandini, whence its name.

67

F 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

of Issus, and like many other works of
the same class, it seems to be the copy

,1
1
I m
$S&) "A-
¦
'
WptTt
FIG. 106. — ACHILLES AMONG THE DAUGHTERS
OF SCYROS.
(Painting at Pompeii.)
of a painting executed at Alexandria.
The numerous frescoes discovered at
Pompeii, Herculaneum, Rome, and
Egypt are, for the most part, decora
tive works of slight importance, all of
later date than the Greek period
(Figs. 106, 107). Egypt has given us a
series of good realistic portraits, dating
from the first centuries of the Ro
man Empire, which are very valu
able specimens of encaustic painting.
Eleven of these are in the National
Gallery, London.
Failing the actual works of Poly
gnotus and Zeuxis, we have the painted
vases of their period, inspired by their
style and by the motives they created.
The Louvre and the British Museum
own the largest and perhaps the best
arranged collections of these in the
world. A few words will suffice to
classify them roughly.
I have already mentioned the
Mycenasan vases (1600 to 1100 B.C.),
the ornament of which is characterised
by a sort of aversion to the straight
line, and a preference for plant
forms and those of marine creatures.
From 1 100 to about 750 b.c. the
geometric style obtained, or rather re
appeared ; in this style the decoration
is composed of single or concentric
circles, and of lines broken, parallel,
crossed, or interlaced in various com
binations. On vases of this type even
the figures and animals are convention
alised; the varied and sinuous lines
of nature are approximated to those of
geometrical design. The most inter
esting series of these vases, a series
painted with naval battles and funeral
processions, comes from the Athenian
cemetery of the Dipylon (the double
gate), whence the name Dipylon Vases
by which they are distinguished (Fig.
108). About 750 B.C. a new style ap
peared, characterised by an ornamenta
tion in zones, recalling that of Oriental
FIG. 107. — THE PHRYGIAN PARIS JUDGING THE
THREE GODDESSES.
(Painting at Pompeii.)
carpets ; the vases so treated are called
Corinthian (Fig. 109). The ground is
68
THE MINOR ARTS IN GREECE

light yellow, the figures reddish brown,
heightened with white, black, and
violet. Finally, about the year 600
B.C. began the period of Greek pottery,
with black figures on a red ground,
which lasted till about the year 500 B.C.,
when a fresh type of decoration
was gradually evolved, that of red
ornament on a black ground. These
two kinds of vases are often called
Etruscan, because great numbers of
them have been found in the tombs of

are masterpieces signed by the
potters or painters to whom we owe

FIG. 108. — :VASE.
Discovered-in the Dipylon, Athens.
(Museum, Athens.)
Etruria; but the term is inaccurate,
for it seems certain that nearly all
the vases were made in Athens, at
least in the fifth century, and that all
the finer vases discovered in Etruria
are of Athenian origin.
The style of the vases with black
figures is archaic, but already attests
a remarkable precision of draughts
manship (Fig. no). Among the
vases with red figures produced in
great quantities at Athens from 500
to 400 b.c, and still manufactured in
the fourth century (Fig. in), there

FIG. log. — CORINTHIAN VASE.
(Museum, Munich.)
(From Woermann's History of Painting, vol. i.
Seemann, Leipzig.)
them; two of these names at least,
Euphronios and Brygos, deserve to
be generally known.
The lecythi are a peculiarly inter
esting class of Athenian vases. They
were made especially to deposit in
tombs, and are ornamented with poly
chrome figures on a white ground.
The motives deal for the most part
with the worship of the dead. Among
them are designs which may be

FIG. IIO. — ATHENE ON HER CAR.
Greek Vase with Black Figures.
(Museum, Wurzburg.)
reckoned among the most exquisite
of all ages, as, for instance, that in

69

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

which Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos
(Death), gently bear a young woman

FIG. III. — CEDFPUS AND THE SPHINX.
Bottom of a Cup painted with Figures in Red.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
to the tomb in the presence of
Hermes (Fig. 112).
After the Peloponnesian War,
Athens ceased to be the exclusive
centre of the manufacture of vases.
Important potteries were established
in Southern Italy. Here were modelled
and painted those enormous vases
which first attract the visitor's atten
tion, though the decoration is often
mediocre. The specimen reproduced

FlG. 112. — ATHENIAN LECYTHUS.
(Museum, Athens.)
in Fig. 113 is very fine. It adorns
a large amphora in the Munich

Museum, and represents the infernal
regions, a subject frequently treated
at this period (about 350 B.C.), though
rarely in the great period of art.
The manufacture of vases with red
figures ceased, even in Italy, about the
year 280 b.c They were replaced
by vases decorated with reliefs of
bright red glaze, imitations of metal
vases. As the reliefs were made by
the help of moulds, it was easy to
multiply specimens; but this was

FIG. 113. — AMPHORA OF CANOSSA, WITH PAINTING
OF THE INFERNAL REGIONS.
(Museum, Munich.)
industry in the modern sense of the
word rather than art. In the whole of
Greek ceramic art, as known to us,
there are perhaps no two painted
vases absolutely identical; Athenian
workmen had a horror of servile
copies, and did not even use patterns
or tracings to work from.
The types of Greek vases are very
varied; our illustration shows the
chief of these (Fig. 114). The classic
names for many of them are unknown
to us. In special works on ceramics
they are indicated by numbers.

70

THE MINOR ARTS IN GREECE

The study of terra-cotta figurines is
even more seductive than that of
vases. The Greeks never ceased to
model these from the Mycenasan times
onward. They have left us a whole
world of statuettes representing gods
and goddesses, heroes and genii, men
and women engaged in the pursuits
and pleasures of familiar life, carica
tures, animals, reduced copies of

those of Tanagra in Boeotia, and of
Myrina in Asia Minor (between
Smyrna and Pergamum). At Tanagra
there are figurines of every period,
but the finest, dating from the close of
the fourth century B.C., reveal the
influence of Praxiteles. The chief
types are draped female figures, often
with hats and fans, characterised by
the most delicious grace and coquetry

FIG. 114. — TYPES OF GREEK VASES.
(The Louvre.)
Above, from left to right : Hydria, Lecythus, Amphora, OEnochce, Crater. Below: Cantharus,
Aryballus, Kylix, Rhyton, Aryballisc Lecythus.

famous statues. Together with these
figurines we may study the bas-reliefs,
often used for the decoration of
temples and houses. Nearly all the
towns and many of the antique burial
grounds have furnished specimens of
terra cottas; they were the least
costly among works of art, and, at the
same time, the most in vogue as ex-
voto offerings to the gods, and as
objects to be deposited with the dead
in their tombs. The most famous
burial-places in this connection are

(Fig. 115). At Myrina, the finest
statuettes date from after the period
of Alexander, and are quite different
in character. This necropolis has
furnished a large number of figures
representing women and youths, both
draped and naked, playing, frolicking,
and indulging in a variety of animated
movements (Fig. 116). We note an
echo here of those Asiatic schools
of sculpture which loved mobility and
exuberant life, and to which we owe
the frieze of the great altar of

71

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Pergamum. Alexandrian art, too,
with its taste for familiar scenes and

FIG. 115. — TANAGRA STATUETTE.
(The Louvre.)
caricature, obviously influenced the
brilliant modellers of Myrina.
Antique terra cottas are nowhere to
be studied to greater advantage than
in the Louvre, where specimens from
Smyrna, Cyprus, Rhodes, Italy, and
Cyrenaica, as well as from Tanagra
and Myrina, are to be found in large
numbers. From the Mycenasan period onward,
engraving on hard stones was practised
throughout the Greek world. Hun
dreds of engraved gems of the
Mycenasan type have survived; they
have been discovered chiefly in the
islands of the Archipelago. They
served as seals, and impressions from
them have been found on terra-cotta
tablets. Stones on which the design
is hollowed out are called intaglios;
they are not to be confused with
cameos, which were not seals, but orna
ments, adorned with a design in relief.
Of all antique objects, engraved
gems are the only ones which have

come down to us for the most part
in exactly the state in which they
were used by the ancients. We have
intaglios of nearly all the periods of
art, in which we can trace the suc
cessive styles, and the influence of the
great schools of sculpture. Among
the many gems which are master
pieces it is difficult to choose a typical
example. Our Fig. 117 reproduces an
intaglio, now at Boston, which repre
sents the triumph of Augustus at
Actium; though its length is little
over half an . inch, it has all the
delicacy and breadth of style of a
historical bas-relief.
The vogue of cameos cut in sar
donyx of several strata began with
the Alexandrine epoch and lasted till
the last century of the Roman Em
pire. The largest known cameo, re
presenting the Apotheosis of Tiberius,
is in the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris.
The two most beautiful, on each of
which are cut the portraits of Ptolemy
Philadelphia and his queen, belong
respectively to the Museums of Vienna
and of St. Petersburg (Fig. 118).
These marvellous cameos certainly

FIG. Il6. — TERRA COTTAS FROM MYRINA.
(The Louvre.)
(Necropole de Myrina, Fontemoing, Paris.)
date from the third century before
Christ. They rank among the most

72

THE MINOR ARTS IN GREECE

perfect achievements of art, and have
never been equalled by the moderns.
If the art of engraving precious

FIG. 117. — THE TRIUMPH OF AUGUSTUS, THE
VICTOR OF ACTIUM.
(Intaglio in the Boston Museum; about twice the
actual size.)
stones is very ancient, that of striking
coins is comparatively modern; it was
unknown in Assyria and in Egypt.
The oldest Greek coins date from the
seventh century B.C., and were made
upon the coast of Asia. It was not

FIG. Il8. — PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS AND QUEEN
BERENICE. CAMEO.
(Museum, Vienna.)
until the fifth century that they became
veritable works of art, under the

influence of the school of Phidias. In
this case Athens is no longer supreme.
The finest coins were produced in
Sicily, where certain engravers of
genius, such as Evenetus and Cimon,
occasionally signed their works. The
incomparable Sicilian coins of the
second half of the fifth century attest
the superiority of Greek art no less
eloquently than the Hermes of
Praxiteles and the Venus of Milo;
the profile of the nymph Arethusa

FIC. 119. — SILVER COIN OF SYRACUSE.
(Face and reverse.)
is, indeed, perhaps the most exquisite
Greek head known to us (Fig. 119).
Fine coins have certainly been produced
in modern times, as, for instance, the
English sovereigns with the St. George
and the Dragon, and Roty's charming
Soiver, but the superiority of the
Greeks in this art is incontestable,
and is partly to be explained by a
purely material cause. The modern
minted coins, intended to be piled
one upon the other, are necessarily

73

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
flat; those of the ancients were al- history of art. Those who are con-
ways more or less globular, a form vinced of this truth will find in
which made it possible to give greater museums information and satisfac-
definition and relief to the image upon tion which escape others; they will
them. recognise that the material and the
It is not within the scope of this dimensions of works are of little
work to pass in review all the infinite importance, that style is the essential
variety of Greek industrial products. I element, and that the Greek genius
wish only to point out their great has set its stamp upon everything
interest in connection with the subject which the hand of a Greek artificer has
we are studying, namely, the general fashioned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER IX.
M. Collignon, Manuel d'Archeologie grecque, Paris, no date (1884).
E. Babelon et A. Blanchet, Catalogue des Bronzes antiques de la Bibliotheque Nationale,
Paris, 1895; H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the Bronzes in the British Museum, London, 1899;
S. Reinach, Bronzes figures de la Gaule romaine, Paris, 1894; A. de Ridder, Catalogue des
bronzes d'Athenes, 2 vols., Paris, 1894, 1896; Miroirs grecs a reliefs (Monuments Piot,
vol. iv., p. 77); A. Dumont et E. Pottier, Miroirs grecs ornes de figures au trait (Les Ce-
ramiques de la Grece propre, vol. ii., Paris, 1890, p. 167).
H. de Fontenay, Bijoux anciens et modernes, Paris, 1887; A. Darcel, La Technique de
la Bijouterie ancienne (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1888, i., p. 146).
H. de Villefosse, Le Tresor de Boscoreale (Monuments Piot, vol. iv., 1899); E. Pernice
et Fr. Winter, Der Hildesheimer Silberfund, Berlin, 1902; Konkadoff, Tolstoi, S. Reinach,
Antiquites de la Russie meridionale, Paris, 1892.
P. Girard, Histoire de la Peinture antique, Paris, no date; A. Michaelis, op. cit. p. 59;
U. Wilcken, Hellcnistische Portrats aus El-Faipim (Arch. Anzeiger, 1889, p. 1); P.
Gauckler, article Musivum opus in the Dictionnaire des Antiquites de Saglio (cf., by
the same author, Monuments Plot, vol. iii., p. 177; vol. iv., p. 233).
O. Rayet et M. Collignon, Histoire de la Ceramique grecque, Paris, 1888; E. v. Rohden,
art. Vasenkunde in the Denkmaler, by Baumeister, vol. iii., Munich, 1888; S. Reinach,
Repertoire des Vases peints grecs el etrusques, 2 vols., Paris, 1899 (with a complete biblio
graphy of ceramics); E. Pottier, Catalogue des Vases antiques du Louvre, 3 vols., Paris,
1896-1904 (with album); Etude sur les lecythes blancs attiques, Paris, 1883; La Peinture
induslrielle des Grecs, Paris, 1898; Le Dessin par ombre portee chez les Grecs (Revue des
jitudes grecques, 1898, p. 355; origin of painting of black figures); Etudes de Ceramique
grecque (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1902, i., p. 19); H. B. Walters [and others], Catalogues
of Vases in the British Museum, 3 vols., London, 1893, et suiv. ; P. Hartwig, Die griechischen
Meisterschalen, Stuttgart, 1893; W. Klein, Griechische Vasen mit Meistersignaturen, 2nd ed.,
Vienna, 1887; A. Joubin, De Sarcophagis clazomeniis, Paris, 1901 (Sarcophagi of painted
clay, discovered at Clazomenes); J. Dechelette, Les vases ornes (a reliefs) de la Gaule
romaine, Paris, 1904.
E. Pottier, Statuettes de terre cuite, Paris, 1890; Les Terres cuiles de Myrina (Gazette
des Beaux Arts, 1886, i., p. 261); E. Pottier et S. Reinach, La N&cropole de Myrina, 2 vols.,
Paris, 1887; H." Lechat, Tanagra (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1893, ii., p. 1).
E. Babelon, La Gravure en pierres fines, Paris, no date; Les Camees antiques de la
Bibliotheque Nationale (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1898, i., p. 27); S. Reinach, Pierres gravies,
Paris, 1895; A. Furtwaengler, Antike Gemmen, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1900.
F. Lenormant, Monnaies et Medailles, Paris, no date; R. Weil, art. Miinzkunde dans
les Denkmaler by Baumeister, vol. ii., Munich, 1887; A. Blanchet, Les Monnaies grecques,
Paris, 1894; Les Monnaies romaines, Paris, 1895; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins,
Cambridge, 1883; A. Evans, Syracusan Medallions, London, 1892.
W. Froehner, La Verrerie antique (Collection Charvet), Paris, 1879.
74

X

ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN ART

The settlement of Etruria by Lydian Emigrants. — Etruscan Monuments and Decorative
Objects. — The so-called Etruscan Vases chiefly Importations from Athens. — Paint
ings in the Tomb of Francois at Volsci. — Etruscan Portraits in Terra Cotta. — Roman
Art. — The Invasion of Italy by Greek Art. — The Evolution of an individual Roman
Art. — Its Manifestation in Architecture. — The Coliseum. — The Adoption of the
Vault. — The Pantheon and the Basilica of Constantine. — Triumphal Arches. — The
Archaistic Reaction under Augustus. — Its Decline after Claudius and Revival under
Hadrian. — The Antinous Type. — Portraits of the Imperial Epoch. — The Oriental
ised Art of the Roman Decadence. — Frescoes at Pompeii. — The Rospigliosi Eros with
a Ladder. — Analysis of Roman Art.

About the year iooo b.c, a band of
emigrants coming by sea from Lydia
in Asia Minor, settled in central Italy,
and intermingling with the natives,
laid the foundations of the Etruscan
confederation. Etruria was conquered by the
Romans in the year 283 B.C.
Throughout four centuries before
this period, she had developed a
flourishing civilisation, important evi
dences of which have survived in the
shape of town walls, ruined temples,
vast tombs ornamented with paintings
and reliefs, statues, sarcophagi, terra
cottas, bronzes of various kinds, and
golden ornaments. As to the painted
vases known as Etruscan, it will be
well to repeat that they were, for the
most part, imported from Attica.
The original element in this civilisa
tion was the groundwork of Italian
ruggedness that underlay it. In all
else, it was but a reflection of that of
Greece, primarily of Asiatic Greece,
then of Athens. The Athenians ex
ported thousands of painted vases and
artistic objects of all kinds to Etruria,
because the Etruscans had not only

the taste to appreciate them, but the
money to pay for them.
There were, however, local schools
in Etruria, and these produced many
important works, which, though imi
tated from Greek models, yet bear the

lie. I2J. — ACHILLES IMMOLATING PRISONERS.
Etruscan Frescoes from a Tomb at Volsci.
(Woermann, History of Painting, Seeman,
Leipzig.)
stamp of national individuality, like the
astonishing paintings in the so-called
" Tomb of Frangois" 1 at Volsci, repre
senting Achilles offering sacrifices of
Trojan prisoners to appease the manes
of Patroclus (Fig. 120). The subject
is Greek, but the treatment is
thoroughly Etruscan; the Charon,
1 The name of a professional excavator,
who worked in Etruria during the first half
of the nineteenth century.

75

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

armed with a mallet, is unknown in
Hellenic art, but he is to be found
similarly depicted in Roman Gaul,

FIG. 121. — ETRUSCAN SARCOPHACUS.
Known as the Lydian Tomb.
(The Louvre.)
a proof that he was inspired by
some old myth peculiar to the West.
The style has something of the pre
cision and of the harsh vigour that
appear some eighteen centuries later
in the frescoes of Mantegna at Padua,
and of Signorelli at Orvieto.
The same vigour and originality
distinguishe the numerous Etruscan
portraits in terra cotta, some of which
are whole length figures (Fig. 121).
These are essentially native works, in
which the sense of life, the fidelity to
the model, the contempt for all that is
abstract and typical, attest a taste not
in the least Hellenic, but racy of the
soil. What we call Roman art is not
merely Hellenistic art imported into or
copied in Italy, as has been too often
asserted. It is true that the imitation
of Greek works was an important
factor in Roman art. From the third
century before Christ onwards, the
victorious generals of Rome enriched
their city with a quantity of Greek
masterpieces from Sicily and Southern

Italy; later, after the year 150, the
methodical pillage of Greece and Asia
Minor began, carried on not only by
military leaders and governors, but by
influential private persons. On the
other hand, the wealth of Rome
attracted the Greek artists, who
readily found purchasers for their
imitations or copies of classic works;
the houses, villas, and gardens of
wealthy Romans, such as Lucullus or
Crassus, were veritable museums. This
taste for art became still more general
under the Empire. Everyone knows
that an eruption of Vesuvius buried
Pompeii and Herculaneum in a.d. 79,
and that more than half of Pompeii
has been excavated since the year
1753- Now this third-rate town has
already yielded up more paintings,
statues, and statuettes than could be
found to-day in most of our large
provincial cities.
At the same time, this invasion of
Italy by Hellenistic art did not inter
fere with the parallel development of
a Roman art, which appears rather as
the continuation of the native art of

FIG. 122. — ROMAN TEMPLE AT N1MES.
Known as the "Maison Carree."
Italy, than as a degenerate form of
Greek art.
Roman architecture has covered the

76

ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN ART

earth with great monuments, temples,
therms, theatres, amphitheatres (or
arenas), triumphal arches, and columns,
eloquent witnesses to the grandeur of
the Empire and its prosperity. The
temples and theatres are inspired by
Greek models (Fig. 122); but arenas
like the Roman Coliseum (Fig. 123)
are novelties in the history of art, and

V

isS»«i

Within the last few years we have
learnt that the vault of the Pantheon
was built in the time, not of Augustus,
but of Hadrian (117 — 138). This date is
of importance in the history of art, for
it marks the definite adoption of a
system of construction, the further
development of which was to produce
Byzantine and Romanesque architec
ture, and less directly,
Gothic architecture.
From the first century
after Christ to the time
of' the completion of
St. Peter's at Rome,
the problem of the
vault never ceased to

ft;

the triumphal arches
seem to have their
prototypes in the gates
of the Etruscan towns,
rather than in the
commemorative monu
ments of the Greek
world. The Romans, following the example
of the Greeks, made use of the flat
roof. But they also constructed great
vaults, and domes like that of the Pan
theon in Rome, no instance of which
is to be found in Greek classic archi
tecture. We have seen that these
domes were not unknown to the
Assyrians; it is probable that the
Etruscans took the principle of them
from the East and transmitted it to the
Romans.

A.

TIG. 123. — THE COLISEUM, ROME.
occupy architects. The various solu
tions they essayed had a powerful
influence on the successive styles.
Vaulted architecture was so essen
tially a Roman product that it con
tinued to develop when sculpture had
sunk to uniform mediocrity. Con-
stantine's basilica (Fig. 124), built after
305 a.d., with its three colossal vaults,
the central one nearly 120 feet high,
with a span of more than 80 feet,
marks a great advance on former
77
THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

constructions; it served as a model
to the architects of the Renaissance.
Bramante, when he conceived the
plan of St. Peter's, said that he in
tended " to raise the Pantheon over
the basilica of Constantine."
Only one among the Roman
triumphal arches, that of Titus (Fig.
125), which commemorates the de
struction of Jerusalem (a.d. 70), shows
any actual beauty of execution ; the
others are chiefly interesting to archaso-

FIG. 124. — RUINS OF THE BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE,
ROME.

logists. The same may be said of the
vast utilitarian works, aqueducts (Fig.
126), bridges, dams, and sewers with
which Rome endowed all parts
of her Empire. It will be enough
hereto mention them in passing.
A characteristic of the archi
tecture of the Roman period,
which gives it a certain affinity
to that of Egypt and Assyria, is
its tendency to colossal pro
portions, as exemplified in the
temples of Baalbek, and of
Palmyra, in Syria (Fig. 127).
These temples, imitated from
Greek models, are primarily
remarkable for their size ; the
decoration is as careless as it
is exuberant. But this exuber-

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-7
i . .. 

-7

MF=

1 j i
7r""'7

fcr

FIG. 125. — THE ARCH OF TITUS, ROME.
ance, though it offends our taste,
does not lack originality; it was in
Syria mainly that the new style was
elaborated, which gave birth to By
zantine decorative art.
The sculptors of Pergamum and
Rhodes had exaggerated the element
of pathos. About the year 100 B.C., a
reaction set in, the centres of which
were Athens and Alexandria; artists
returned to the types of the fifth and

FIG. 126. — VIEW OF THE ROMAN AQUEDUCT.
Known as the " Pont du Gard."
(Photo, by Neurdein.)

78

ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN ART

FIG. 127. — INTERIOR OF THE SMALL TEMPLE
OF BAALBEK, SYRIA.

fourth centuries ; they even imitated
archaic works ; and in their paintings
and bas-reliefs they represented calm
and occasionally idyllic scenes (Fig.
128) . This tendency was at its height in
the time of Augustus ; it is very evident

FIG. 128. — LIONESS AND YOUNG.
Bas-relief in the Vienna Museum.
(Wickhofi's Roman Art, Heinemann, London.)

in the beautiful fragments of the Altar
of Peace (b.c. 13), the minute workman
ship of which suggests the art of the
chaser of metal (Fig. 129), and in the
portraits of the time of Augustus,
notably in the charming head of the
youthful Octavius in the Vatican
(Fig. 130), a work cold and distin
guished as one of Canova's busts.
From the reign of Claudius onward,

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>J

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^ -^$^fafflimm
¦¦' vm-
FIG. 129. — FRAGMENT FROM THE ALTAR OF
PEACE.
Dedicated at Rome under Augustus.
(Wickhoff, Roman Art, Heinemann,
London.)
this elegant and somewhat timid style
gave way before an art far less subser
vient to the classic tradition, a vigor
ous, animated, realistic style, good
examples of which are the bas-reliefs
on the Arch of Titus (Figs. 131, 132),
and those on the column set up by
Trajan on the Forum in 103, represent
ing the Roman campaigns against
the Dacians (Fig. 133). Besides
these historic bas-reliefs, others of a
more decorative character have come
down to us (Fig. 134), showing an in
novation in Grasco-Roman art in the
79
THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

form of leaves, flowers, and fruit real
istically treated, an abandonment of

FIG. 130. — AUGUSTUS AS A YOUTH.
Museum of the Vatican.
(Wickhoff, Roman Art, Heinemann,
London.)
the conventions that governed plant-
forms in Greek classic decoration, the
chief features of which were the con
ventionalised palm and acanthus leaf.
This picturesque and expressive school
also threw off the old trammels in its
representation of animals (Fig. 135).
From the Alexandrine period on
ward, occasional signs of an un-

FIG. 131. — BAS-RELIEF FROM THE ARCH
OF TITUS.
The Emperor's Triumph.

expected return to naturalism appear.
It was, however, short-lived. To find
later examples of decoration based
directly upon nature, the student of
art must pass over ten centuries and
go to Gothic architecture.
After the death of Trajan in 117, a
fresh Attic and archaistic reaction
took place, manifesting itself notably
in the reign of Hadrian by the execu
tion of a large number of copies of
classic sculpture, and by the creation
of the ideal type of Antinous, the
favourite of Hadrian, a type inspired
by the traditions of the fifth and fourth
century before Christ (Figs. 136, 137).

FIG. 132. — BAS-RELIEF FROM THE ARCH
OF TITUS.
Spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem carried
in Triumph.
The numerous statues erected in
honour of Antinous, after his early
and mysterious death, are frigid imita
tions of Greek works, and have
nothing in common with the realistic
portraiture of Roman art. %
After the middle of the second
century, Roman sculpture degenerated
in Italy. Though it continued occa
sionally to produce fine realistic busts
of emperors, like that of Caracalla,
plastic art fell more and more under
the influence of the school that had
developed in Asia Minor and Syria.
In these rich provinces, which were

80

ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN ART

FIG. I33-— DACIAN PRISONER BROUGHT
BEFORE TRAJAN.
Bas-relief from the Trajan Column at Rome,

never Roman in anything but name,
a sort of orientalised Hellenistic art
flourished, that had undergone Persian
influences. This art, as yet but little
known, was, at least, to some extent,
the source of Byzantine art.
In addition to
the historic bas-
reliefs, the finest
examples of which
are furnished by
the Arch of Titus,
and the ruins of an
arch of Trajan,
sculpture of the
Imperial Epoch
produced a num
ber of admirable
portraits, model
led from life, and
marked by great
individuality.
These realistic
portraits are in
spired not only by
Hellenistic influ
ences, but also,

FIG. 134. — PILASTER OF
THE MONUMENT TO
THE HATERII.

(Lateran Museum,
Rome.)
(Wickhoff, Roman
Art, Heinemann,
London.)

and perhaps to a greater degree, by
the traditions of antique Italian
art. In this connection it is inter
esting to compare a portrait of

FIG. 135. — EAGLE.
From a Bas-relief in the Church of the Holy
Apostles at Rome.
(Wickhoff, Roman Art, Heinemann,
London.)

Augustus, from a Greek workshop
in Rome, with a portrait of Nerva exe
cuted a century later, in which the
realistic tendency is as vigorously as
serted as in any portrait by Donatello
or by Rodin (Fig. 138).
The painting of the Roman period
is known to us in the numerous frescoes

8l

FIG. T36. — HEAD OF ANTINOUS.
Crowned with Ivy as Dionysus.
(Cast in the University of Strasburg, from a
lost original.) G

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

at Pompeii, as well as in the stucco
decorations of the walls of houses and

FIG 137. — ANTINOUS AS DIONYSUS.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
tumbs in Rome and in the provinces.
We also possess the first essays of
Christian pictorial art, executed in
the catacombs from the second to the
fourth century. I pass over the mosaics,
very numerous in Italy and more es
pecially in Africa, because they are
not, strictly speaking, works of art ; but
they would play an important part in
any study of the evolution of orna
ment. Roman painting was not in any
sense a mere continuation of Hellenic
painting. Here, again, side by side
with Greek works, easily recognisable
by the vigour. of the drawing and the
more or less deliberate imitation of

bas-reliefs, we find, from the middle
of the first century, manifestations of
an original style, especially at Pom
peii. This style is not unlike that of the
modern Impressionists; it is charac
terised by the use of patches of light
and colour, sometimes producing the
most charming effect. Certain mural
decorations at Pompeii, executed in
this style, have not been surpassed in
our own times. Did it originate in
Rome or in Alexandria? It is diffi
cult to say; but it is certain that it
flourished in Italy, and that no ex
amples of it have survived elsewhere.
There is a wonderful specimen in
Rome itself, the Eros with the Ladder,
of the Casino Rospigliosi, a fresco so
free in execution that it might easily
be attributed to Fragonard (Fig.
139)- Thus we see, that the accepted idea
of Roman art as a long and monoto
nous decadence is as contrary to fact
as to historic laws. Wholly incontest
able, however, is the later evolution
of Hellenic art and classic tradition,
which was modified by the intermixture

TIG 138.-

-PORTRAITS OF NERVA AND
OF AUGUSTUS.

(Museum of the Vatican.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
of Oriental elements in Asia, though
it still clung to antique types and

82

ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN ART

formulas and was finally merged in
Byzantine art. But side by side with
this obsolescent art sprang up, as
early as the first century after Christ,
a realism which may fitly be called
Roman, since its masterpieces were
produced in Rome, a realism which
seems to have had its root in Italian
soil. Throughout the Middle Ages
the two opposing principles were
arrayed against each other. Byzantine
art lowered for a long time over the
western countries like a night-mare;
but the day came when Italian realism,
brought into touch with the French
realism of the fourteenth century,
triumphed, and the Renaissance was
the result. At the present day, By
zantine art still prevails in Greece,
Turkey, and Russia, the ancient
religious domain of Byzantium, while
the western nations have a wholly

FIG. 139. — EROS WITH -A LADDER.
Antique painting in the Casino Rospigliosi
at Rome.
(Wickhoff, Roman Art, Heinemann,
London.)

different art,
the Romans.

akin to the realism of

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER X.
J. Martha, VArt elrusque, Paris, 1899; Archeologie elrusque et romaine, Paris, no date;
A. Choisy, Histoire de V Architecture, vol. i., Paris, 1899; F. Wickhoff, Roman Art, trans
lated by Eugenie Strong, London, 1900 (German original, Wiener Genesis); J. Strzygowski,
Orient oder Rom, Leipzig, 1901; E. Courbaud, Le Bas-relief romain, Paris, 1899; M. Col
lignon, Style decoratif a Rome au temps d'Auguste (Revue de VArt, 1897, ii., p. 97); A.
Mau et F. Kelsey, Pompeii, its Life and Art, London, 1899; Pompeii, by Pierre Guzman;
English translation, London, R. Cagnat, La Resurrection d'une Ville antique, , Timgad
(Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1898, ii., p. 209); Alois Riegl, Die spatrbmische Kunstindustrie ,
Vienna, 1901 (cf. Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1902, p. 263); J. J. Bernoulli, Rdmische Ikono-
graphie, 4 vols., Stuttgart, 1882-1894. Many reproductions of buildings are to be found
in Duruy's Histoire des Romains and Flistoire des Grecs.

8.3

G 2

XI

CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST
The terms Early Christian, Romanesque, and Byzantine Art explained. — The Catacombs
in Rome: Early Christian Paintings and Symbols. — Early Christian Sarcophagi. —
Early Christian Churches built on the plan of the Roman Basilicas. — St. Paul without-
the-Walls, Rome. — Decorative Mosaics at Rome and at Ravenna. — Sant' Apollinare
Nuovo and Sant' Apollinare in Classe. — St. Sophia at Constantinople. — The Icono
clasts. — The Byzantine Renaissance. — Byzantine Ivories, Enamels, Miniatures, and
Metal-work. — The Decline of Byzantine Art. — Arab and Moorish Art. — The Mosque
of Amrou. — The Alhambra. — The Persistence of the Byzantine Tradition in Russia
and Southern Italy. — St. Mark's Church, Venice. — The Byzantine Tradition dis
carded by Giotto and Duccio.

The term Christian Art was first
used in the nineteenth century by the
historian Alexis Rio, who died in 1874.
Properly speaking, it applies to all
manifestations of art in countries
where Christianity has prevailed, from
the first paintings in the Roman Cata
combs to the works of our own day.
It is, however, usual to reserve the
term Early Christian Art for that of
the western Christian countries down
to the time of Charlemagne, after
which the Romanesque epoch begins.
The distinctive term Byzantine Art is
applied to that of Eastern Christen
dom, of which Byzantium became the
capital in 330 A.D. and remained so
until the taking of Constantinople by
the Turks in 1453 and even later.
Although monuments of each of
these arts exist in all the Mediter
ranean countries, in a rapid survey
such as ours, we must study them
mainly in their three principal centres:
Rome, Ravenna, and Constantinople.
The Catacombs at Rome are sub
terranean galleries where the early
Christians buried their dead and held

certain periodic services in their hon
our. They were used for these purposes
from the year 100 to about the year
420. When Christianity became the
official religion of the Roman Empire,
the Christians had no longer any need
to dig their sepulchres in these
galleries, and they made burial-places
above the ground. Individual Chris
tians, however, continued to be buried
in the Catacombs occasionally, that
their bones might rest beside those of
the martyrs.
Early Christian art showed no aver
sion to imagery, but it was opposed to
the representation of God, and that of
the crucified Jesus does not appear till
the fifth century. Speaking generally,
sculpture in the round was repugnant.
to the early Christians, because the
idols of heathen temples were statues.
The Catacombs were decorated chiefly
with paintings, and with stucco reliefs.
Among these works of art, there are
some which set forth incidents in the
Old and the New Testament; there
are also allegorical figures, like that of
the Good Shepherd (Jesus), bringing

84

CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST

back the lost sheep to the fold, Orpheus
charming the beasts (Fig. 140), a fish,

FIG. 140. — PAINTING IN THE CATACOMBS.
ORPHEUS CHARMIHG THE BEASTS.
(Woermann, History of^ Painting, Seemann,
Leipzig.)

symbolising, sometimes the Saviour
and sometimes the faithful, a peacock,
typifying eternity. But the examina
tion and exposition of these motives
must not detain us; it is a special
branch of archasology. Suffice it to
say that the art of the Catacombs is
only to be distinguished from that of
the pagan by the motives it treats and
those it avoids (notably nude figures).
In style it is closely akin to the dec
orative art of Pompeii, and it never
succeeded in giving to its personages
an expression of purity and beatitude
in harmony with the moral and religi
ous ideal of Christianity. To convince
ourselves of this, we need but exam
ine the Virgin and Child with a Pro
phet (Isaiah?), a motive which ap
pears in a Roman painting of the
third century (Fig. 141). Here there
is nothing Christian but the subject.
At the time when Christianity finally

triumphed over Paganism, wealthy
pagans often caused themselves to be
buried in large marble troughs called
sarcophagi, decorated with reliefs
inspired by mythology, or dealing
with the earthly career of the deceased.
The Christians followed the pagan
example, save that episodes from the
Scriptures replaced those of fable, and
the artists who carved these monu
ments were so accustomed to the
introduction of certain decorative
motives, that we still see on Christian
sarcophagi Medusa-heads, griffins, and
Cupids, the primitive pagan sense of
which had been forgotten.
As works of art, the Christian
sarcophagi are of little interest. They
have all the defects of the Roman
sculpture of the period, heaviness,
crowded composition, incorrect draw
ing. The interpretation of subjects
from sacred history is nearly always
prosaic and clumsy. The best exam
ples are those which deal with motives

IIG. 141. — PAINTING IN
THE CATACOMBS.
Representing the Virgin
and Child, with a
Prophet (?).
(Liell, Marien-Darslel-
hmqcn, Herder,
Friburg.)

commemorating the life of the de
ceased, and refer to his faith only by a

85

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

symbolic figure like that of the Good
Shepherd carrying the sheep (Fig. 142).

FIG. 142. — CHRISTIAN SARCOPHAGUS.
(Salona, Dalmatia.)
(From Garrucci's Storia deW Arte Christiana^)

Architecture was no more successful
than painting and sculpture in dis
covering a new formula, when it was
applied to the building of temples
for the new faith. The Christian
Church is a place for the gathering
together of the faithful, thus differing
essentially from the pagan temple,
which was the abode of the divinity.
The first Christian churches were
accordingly modelled on those en
closed places of assembly known as

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FIG. 143. — INTERIOR OE THE BASILICA OF
ST. PAUL WITHOUT-THE-WALLS.
(Liibke, Architektur, Seemann, Leipzig.)

basilicas. Ins.tead of serving as
tribunals or markets, they were used

for public worship; here, again, the
new wine was put into old bottles.
Among the Roman basilicas, that of
St. Paul without-the-Walls, built by
Constantine and restored after a fire
in 1823, may be cited as a character
istic example (Fig. 143). It consists of
a large nave with a horizontal roof,
and of two lower side-aisles; the cen
tral nave is lighted by windows above
the side-aisles. At the end is a gate
called the Triumphal Arch, behind
which is the altar; the end wall is cir-

FIG. 144. — THE EMPRESS THEODORA AND
HER COURT.
Mosaic in the Church of San Vitale,
at Ravenna.

cular and forms the apse. Both apse
and triumphal arch are richly deco
rated with glass and mosaics on a blue
or gold ground, the splendour of which
rivals that of goldsmiths' enamels.
These mosaics ornament the vertical
walls and the vaults, instead of form
ing pavements as in the Roman houses
and temples. Specimens of them, very
beautiful in colour and grandiose
though frigid in style, are to be seen
in Rome, and at Ravenna (Fig. 144),
which was the seat of the Roman court
from 404, the residence of Theodoric,
King of the Goths, about 500, and an
appanage of Byzantium from 534 to

86

CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST

752. Several churches of the sixth cen
tury still exist, as Sant' Apollinare Nu-
ovo, Sant' Apollinare in Classe (on the
ancient port) and San Vitale: the last
is a circular domed building, in which
Byzantine influences are very appar
ent; the others are basilicas, the inte
riors of which are striking and majestic,
though their external aspect is neither
graceful nor dignified (Figs. 145-147).
If the architectural type of the
basilica, characterised by its rect
angular plan and flat roof, predomin
ates in the churches in Italy, those of
Constantinople applied and developed
the principle of the dome. The great
church of Byzantium, St. Sophia (Fig.
148), was built between 532 and 562
under Justinian, by Anthemius • of
Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, that is
to say, by Asiatic architects. We have
seen that the cupola was known to the
Assyrians; the tradition had been pre
served in Persia, whence it spread into

FIG. 145. — INTERIOR OF SANT' APOLLINARE IN
CLASSE, RAVENNA.
Syria towards the third century after
Christ, passing from Syria into Asia

-INTERIOR OF SANT' APOLLINARE
NUOVO, RAVENNA.
(Photo, by Alinari, Florence.)
Minor in the following centuries. The
architects of St. Sophia were probably
inspired by Asiatic models, and not by
the Roman Pantheon.
As all the world knows, this famous
Byzantine temple has been a Turkish
mosque since 1453. The mosaics are
covered with whitewash, but, as a
whole, the building is in good pre
servation. The superficies of the in
terior is over 23,000 square feet. Pass
ing through two vast porticoes, we
stand beneath a huge vault some 186
feet high and over 100 feet wide. About
the middle of the nineteenth century,
when some restorations were being
carried out in the mosque, permission
was given to copy the mosaics of fig
ures in water-colours. Although the
compositions themselves, dealing with
episodes in the history of Justinian, are
poor in design and mediocre in con
ception, the splendour of the mosaics
must have added greatly to the gran
deur of the general effect (Fig. 149).
Even under present conditions, we are
dazzled by walls faced with marble
slabs, multicoloured columns support
ing galleries, the sparkle of cubes of
mosaic made of gilded glass. The lux-

87

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

ury of Byzantine art lay in splendour,
in the profusion of colour and gild
ing. It is a truly Asiatic luxury, which
found inspiration in the Persia of the
Sassanides, and took as its models
the carpets of the Orientals, rather
than the severe creations of Grasco-
Roman art. In the sculptured orna
ment of capitals and friezes, the human
figure is conspicuously absent; all is
purely geometrical and conventional.
Christian art went through a re
doubtable crisis at Byzantium in con
nection with the ascetic heresy of the

fplsf

-

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i

p i

t IP-' Si;

-1* sLw

_ AA'\ ^slf ,\vA vi

illi i
. 147. — EXTERIOR OF SANT APOLLINARE IN
CLASSE, RAVENNA.
(Liibke, Archileklur, Seemann, Leipzig )
image-breakers, called the Iconoclasts,
who gained the upper hand for a time.
During the eighth and a part of the
ninth century, these fanatics destroyed
a great number of works of art, both at
Constantinople and in the provinces of
the Empire. The Byzantine sculptors
and mosaicists had to quit their native
land, and some of them came to work
at Aix-la-Chapelle, at the Court of
Charlemagne. The suppression of
this heresy, about the year 850, was
the signal for an artistic renaissance
that endured throughout the tenth and
part of the eleventh century, an epoch
148. — VIEW OF ST. SOPHIA AT
CONSTANTINOPLE.
of great prosperity and military glory
for the Byzantine Empire.
It was also, to a certain degree, a
period of intellectual renaissance, for
the best manuscripts of the Greek
writers date from this time; there was
even an attempted reaction of liberal
philosophy against the theocratic des
potism; but this intellectual move
ment, checked by the obscurantism of
Alexis Comnenus, has no sequel.
Statuary was very little in demand,
because of the religious prejudices
against idols; but Byzantine mosaics,
bas-reliefs in ivory and metal, enamels,
paintings on parchment, and specimens
of goldsmiths' work have come down
to us, executed with great technical
skill, and marked by a certain grandeur
FIG. 149. — INTERIOR OF ST. SOPHIA AT
CONSTANTINOPLE.
CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST

of style (Figs. 150, 151). A masterpiece
of this art is a silver bas-relief (Fig. 152)
in the Louvre,
which belonged
to the Abbey of
St. D e n i s — an
angel shows the.
Saviour's empty
tomb to the
Magadalen and
Mary, the sister
of James. With
this may be
classed a beauti
ful ivory of the
Cabinet des Me-
dailles. Paris,
representing a
Byzantine em
peror and em
press of the
tenth century
crowned by
Christ (Fig. 153).
But to understand the somewhat
theatrical majesty of Byzantine art,
its gloomy gravity and the poverty
of its means of expression, we must
devote ourselves mainly to the study
of the great mosaics of the elev
enth century, notably the decoration
of the Church of Daphni, mid-way
between Athens and Eleusis. Byzan
tine art shows a very high sense of
the monumental ; but it is deficient in
life, and from the time of Justinian
onward, it tended more and more to
create immutable types and formulas.
These unfortunate tendencies are
especially conspicuous towards the
period of the artistic revival under
the Palasologi (fourteenth century), a
period which nevertheless produced
the beautiful mosaics of Kahrie-Djami
at Constantinople, works not unworthy

FIG. 150. — VIRGIN AND
CHILD.
Byzantine Ivory executed
about 1,000 a.d.
(Museum, Utrecht.)
(Schlumberger, Epopee
Byzantine.)

to be compared with the contemporary
frescoes of Giotto in Italy. It is mis
leading to speak of the utter de
cadence of Byzantine art after the
eleventh century. Even after the fall
of Constantinople, at the beginning
of the sixteenth century, the paintings
in the convents of Mount Athos, at
tributed to the monk Panselinos, the
" Raphael of Athos," mark a very
original development of the same
tradition, with its mixture of lofty
qualities and incurable vices. At the
close of the sixteenth century, the vices
prevailed; Byzantine art, petrified into
rigid formulas, became an industry with
a fixed tariff, and fell into a slumber
from which it has not yet awakened,
though it has never ceased to reign
wherever the Greek schism has tri
umphed. When, in the seventh century, the

FIG. 151. — THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST.
Byzantine Miniature of the Eleventh Century.
(Mount Athos.)
(Schlumberger, Epopie Byzantine.)
Arabs invaded Syria and Egypt, they
found the higher tradition of Byzantine

89

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 152. — THE HOLY WOMEN AT THE TOMB.
Byzantine Bas-relief in Silver -gilt.
(The Louvre.)
(Schlumberger, Epopee Byzantine.)
architecture still flourishing there, side
by side with a debased style of painting
and sculpture (Coptic art1). Inspired
by these traditions, they modified them
to suit their own requirements, and
developed an original art, of which the
mosques of Cairo, and later of Spain,
give a very favourable impression.
The mosque of Amrou at Cairo dates
from 643 a.d. ; the Alhambra, or " Red
Palace," of Granada (Fig. 154), a
marvel of Moorish architecture, from
about 1300. Arab art, faithful to the
prescriptions of the Koran, refrained
in general, if not absolutely, from the
representation of the human figure.
But this very limitation necessitated a
rich variety in the treatment of plant
forms and geometric motives. Hence
those admirable arabesques, the term
retained by a complicated system of
ornamentation, in which the Arabs of
1 The Copts are the Christian natives of
Egypt, as distinguished from the Moslem
invaders.

our own day still excel. Another orig
inal feature of Arab architecture is
the stalactite vault, an aggregation
of plaster prisms, producing a very
picturesque effect; the origin of these
should probably be sought in the
carvings of little wooden shrines.
Persian art, which had participated
in the formation of Byzantine art, was
in its turn affected by the latter, and
exercised its own influence on Arab,
Turkish, and Hindoo art. On the other
hand, the north of Europe, espe
cially Russia, converted to Christianity
by the Byzantines about the year 1000,
received and held fast the Byzan
tine tradition. The great churches
of Kiev, Moscow, and St. Peters
burg are directly derived from St.
Sophia. Southern Italy, long in the
hands of the Byzantines, retained

FIG. 153. — THE EMPEROR ROMANUS IV. AND THE
EMPRESS EUDOCIA CROWNED BY CHRIST.
Byzantine Ivory in the Cabinet des
Meaailles, Paris.
(Schlumberger, Epopte Byzantine?)

the impression left by them so faith
fully that it took no part in the work

90

CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST

of the Italian Renaissance. Even
Western Europe did not altogether

FIG. 154. — COURT OF LIONS IN THE ALHAMBRA,
GRANADA.

escape it, for Byzantium, with her
wealth, her far-reaching commerce,
her monuments sparkling with gold
and jewels, was the admiration and
envy of Occidentals until the dawn of
the Renaissance in Italy. St. Mark's
at Venice (Fig. 155) is a Byzantine
church, built about the year noo, on
the model of the Church of the Holy
Apostles at Constantinople,1 which also
inspired the architect of the Cathedral
of St. Front at Perigueux. The ivories,
enamels, and embroideries of the
Byzantines spread throughout Europe
and were imitated in every country. It
is not surprising that the art of medias-
val Europe should show so many
1 This church no longer exists.

analogies with that of Byzantium;
rather is it surprising that it should
have retained such a large measure of
independence. This is not only an
occasion for wonder, but for rejoicing.
For the Byzantine influence was bale
ful, bringing the seeds of decay and
death with it; the superficial pomp and
splendour of Byzantine works barely
conceal their emptiness, their lack of
thought and inspiration. According
to the myth accepted by Vasari, it was
by Byzantine artists that the elements
of drawing were introduced in Flor
ence in the thirteenth century. It is
true that there were always Byzantine
artists and Byzantine works of art in
Italy; far too many, indeed! But
the great achievement of Duccio, and,
above all, of Giotto, was, that they
broke vigorously with this moribund

FIG. ISS- — CHURCH OF ST. MARK AT VENICE.
(Photo, by Alinari, Florence.)
tradition to find a new artistic formula
in the observation of life.

91

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XI.
H. Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'Archeologie chretienne, vol. i., Paris, 1903; X. Kraus, Ge
schichte der christlichen Kunst, vol. i., Friburg, 1896; A. Perate, V Archeologie chretienne,
Paris, 1894; H. Marucchi, Elements d' Archeologie chretienne, 2 vols., Rome, 1899, 1900; A.
Venturi, Storia dell' Arte italiana, vol. i., Milan, 1901; Jos. Strzygowski, Orient oder Rom,
Leipzig, 1901; Byzantinische Denkmaler, vol. iii., Leipzig, 1903 (cf. S. Reinach, Revue
archeol, 1903, ii., p. 318); Kleinasien (Christian Asia Minor), Leipzig, 1903; E. Dobbert,
Zur Geschischte der altchristl. und fruhbyzant. Kunst (Reportorium, 1898, p. 1, 95); H.
Holtzinger, Die altchristl. und byzantinische Bankunst, 2nd ed., Stuttgart, 1899; A. Choisy,
Histoire de V Architecture, vol. ii., Paris, 1899: L. Lindenschmit, Handbuch der deutschen
Altertumskunde, Brunswick, 1880-1889 (The Barbaric Art of the West) ; C. Barriere-Flavy,
Les Arts industrials de la Gaule du V" au VII" siecle, 3 vols., Toulouse, 1901 ; A. Marignan,
Un Historien de VArt frangais, Louis Courajod; Les Temps francs, Paris, 1889 (cf. Reper-
torium, 100;, p. 101); L. Behier, Les Colonies d'Orientaux en Occident au Commencement
du Moyen Age (Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1903, p. 1).
M. de Vogue and Duthoit, V Architecture civile et religieuse en Syrie, 3 vols., Paris,
1866-1877; H. C. Butler, Expedition to Syria, Architecture, New York, 1903 (600 illus
trations); O. Dalton, Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities in the British Museum,
London, 1901; H. Graeven, Friihchristl. und mittelalterliche Elfenbeinwerke, Rome, 1898
et seq.; A.-M. Cust, The Ivory Workers of the Middle Ages, London, 1903; A. Haseloff,
Codex Purpureus Rossanensis, Leipzig, 1899; H. Omont, Peintures d'un Manuscrit grec
de VEvangile (Mon. Piot. vol. vii., p. 175); Hefm. Vopel, Die altchristl. Goldglaser, Friburg,
1899; Jul. Kurth, Die Wandmosaiken von Ravenna, Leipzig, 1902 (cf. Repertorium, 1903,
P- 339); Ch. Diehl, Ravenne, Paris, 1903; F. Leitshuh, Geschichte der Karolingischen
Malerei, Berlin, 1894; G. Swarzenski, Karoling. Malerei und Plaslik (Jahrbiicher of the
Berlin Museums, 1902); E. Babelon, Histoire de la Gravure sur gemmes en France, Paris,
1902; J. Labarte, Recherches sur la Peinture en email, Paris, 1856.
C. Bayet, VArt byzantin, Paris, ri. d. ; B. Kondakoff, Histoire de VArt byzantin con
siders principalement dans les Miniatures, French translation, Paris, 1886— 1891; J.-P.
Richter, Quellen der byzantinische n Kunstgeschichte, Vienna, 1896; D. Ainalow, Origines
hellenistiques de VArt byzantin (in Russian), St. Petersburg, 1900 (cf. Repertorium, 1902,
p. 35) ; Ch. Diehl, Juslinien et la Civilisation byzantine au VI" siecle, Paris, 1901 ; G. Schlum
berger, Nicephore Phocas, V Epopee byzantine, Basile II., 3 vols, (with numerous illus
trations), Paris, 1890, 1896, 1901; Ch. Diehl, VArt byzantin dans Vltalie meridionale,
Paris, 1896 (cf. Repertorium, 1896, p. 49); E. Bertaux, VArt dans Vltalie meridionale, vol.
i., Paris, 1903; C. Fossati, Aya Sofia in Constantinople as recently restored, London, 1852;
R. Lethaby and H. Swainson, The Church of Sancta Sophia, London, 1894 (cf. Reper
torium, 1897, p. 232); R. W. Schultz and S. H. Barnsley, The Monastery of St. Luke of
Stiris in Phocis, London, 1901; G. Millet, Le Monastere de Daphni, Paris, 1899; A. Ballu,
Le Monastere byzantin de Tebessa, Paris, 1898; L. de Beylie, V Habitation byzantine,
Paris, 1902.
J. Tikkanen, Die Byzantinischen Psalterillustrationen, Helsingfors, 1895; Ch. Diehl,
Mosaiques byzantines du Monastere de Saint-Luc (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1897, i., p. 37;
cf. Monum. Piot, vol. iv., p. 231); E. Bertaux, Les Mosaiques de Daphni (Gazette des
Beaux Arts, 1901, i., p. 39); C. Bayet, Recherches pour servir a VHisloire de la Sculpture
chretienne en Orient, Paris, 1879.
G. Marye, V Exposition de VArt musulman (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1893, ii., p.
490); R. Koechlin, VArt musulman (Revue de VArt, 1903, i., p. 409); J. Karabacek, Das
angebliche Bilderverbot des Islam, Vienna, 1876; A. Gayet, VArt Copte, Paris, 1901;
La Sculpture Copte (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1892, i., p. 422); A. Riegl, Koptische Kunst
(Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1893, p. 114); G. Le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris,
1893; A. Gayet, VArt arabe, Paris, 1893 (cf. Repertorium, 1896, p. 358); Herz-Bey, Le
Musee national du Caire (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902, i., p. 45); G. Migeon, Les Cuivres
arabes (ibid., 1899, ii., p. 462); Owen Jones, The Alhambra, 2 vols., London, 1842; C.

CHRISTIAN ART IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST
Blochet, Les Miniatures des manuscrils Musulmans (Gazette, 1897, i., p. 281; cf. Bur
lington Magazine, 1903, ii., p. 276); A. Gayet, VArt persan, Paris, 1895; Fr. Sarre, Denk
maler persischer Baukunst, Berlin, 1901 (Islamite epoch); H. Wallis, La Ceramique persane
au XIII" siecle (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1892, ii., p. 69); Jul. Lessing, Orientalische Tep-
piche, Berlin, 1891 ; A. Riegl, Altorientalische Teppiche, Vienna, 1891 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1895, i., p. 168; 1896, i., p. 271); W. Bode, Westasiatische Kniipfteppiche (Jahrbiicher
of the Berlin Museums, vol. xiii., 1892, p. 26); G. Le Bon, Les Civilisations de VInde, Paris,
1887; Les Monuments de VInde, Paris, 1893; M. Maindron, VArt indien, Paris, no date;
Art decoratifs de VInde (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, ii., p. 511); J. F. Fergusson, Plistory
of Indian Architecture, London, 1876.
The best general survey of the art of the non-Christian countries of the East and of
Arab art (India, Egypt, and Spain) is that in K. Woermann's Geschichte der Kunst, vol. i.,
Leipzig, 1900, pp. 479-606.

93

XII
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

The term Romance or Romanesque. — Inaccuracy of the term Gothic. — Its First Use by
Raphael. — A Comparison of Romanesque and Gothic Architecture. — The Celtic
Influence on the Art of Northern Europe. — Grasco-Syrian^Elements. — Influence of
the Byzantine Cities, Constantinople and Ravenna. — Phases of the Transition from
Romanesque to Gothic. — Characteristics of Romanesque Architecture. — Of Gothic. —
The Invention of the Pointed Arch. — The Age of Cathedral-building. — The Three
Periods of Gothic. — Town-halls, Dwellings, and Fortresses. — The Architecture of the
Future Foreshadowed by Gothic.

Aecisse de Caumont, who died in
1873, was the first writer to apply the
term Romance or Romanesque to the art
which obtained in the West of Europe

FIG. 156. — TYPES OF VAULTS.
1. Barrel vault. 2. Extrados of a groined vault.
3. Intrados of a Roman groined vault. 4. In-
trados of a groined vault with salient ribs.
(Reusens, Archeologie Chretienne.) .
after Charlemagne. This term was
very happily chosen. On the one
hand, it recalls the affinities of this art
with that of Rome, and on the other,
its intermediate position as between
a national style and one of foreign
origin. The Romance tongue and
Romanesque art were parallel and con

temporary phenomena, although the
Roman element, fortified by Chris
tianity, is much more apparent in the
latter than in the former.1
The expression Gothic Art is, on
the contrary, inaccurate, for the art
which succeeded to Romanesque art
was neither created nor propagated by
the Goths. The term is said to have
been first used by Raphael, in a report
he addressed to Leo X., dealing with
the works projected in Rome, Gothic
being used at that period as a synonym
of barbarous, as opposed to Roman.
The use of the expression still survives
in the term " Goth," denoting an un
couth and mannerless person. The
use of the epithet Gothic was popu
larised by the historian of Italian art,
Vasari (1574), and still persists. The
substitution of the term French Art
for that of Gothic Art has been sug
gested; but the expression is equivo
cal, unless we add: of the last third
1 Fergusson (Handbook of Architecture)
makes a distinction between the terms
Romance and Romanesque, using them to
indicate two phases of the style. But for
the more general purposes of this survey,
the term Romanesque will suffice.

94

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 157. — ROMANESQUE CHURCH AT ANGOULEME.
(Monuments Hisloriques.)
of the Middle Ages, which makes the
expression clumsy and diffuse. Its
correctness has also been warmly chal
lenged in England. It will be better,
therefore, to keep to the consecrated
phrase. If we examine a Romanesque church

FIG. 158. — HAMBERG CATHEDRAL, BAVARTA.
(Liibke, Archilektur, vol. i., Seemann, Leipzig.)

and a Gothic church, we easily recog
nise the essential differences of the
two styles. The first is still somewhat
heavy and depressed, in spite of the
towers that raise and dominate it; the
impressions most strongly conveyed
by the second are those of height and
lightness. In the former, the solid
surfaces are in excess of the apertures,
and the converse may be said of the
latter, which is made up of windows,
rose-windows, pinnacles, and lace-like
traceries of stone. The decoration of
the former is conventional, fantastic,
or geometrical; that of the latter is
based directly upon Nature; round-

-BAPTISTERY, CATHEDRAL, AND LEANINC
TOWER OF PISA.

headed arches and horizontal lines
characterise the former; in the latter
the most striking features are its verti
cal lines and its pointed arches. To
sum up, a Romanesque church sug
gests the idea of serene majesty and
conscious strength; and a Gothic
church, the lifting up of the soul to God.
The Celts, like the Germans and
Scandinavians, raised no stone build
ings; but they had a decorative art
quite distinct from the Grasco-Roman
style, which is manifested notably in
their personal ornaments. This art
was not crushed by Roman domina-

95

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 160. — FLYING BUT
TRESSES OF STE. GUDULE.
BRUSSELS.
(Reusens, Archeologie
Chretienne.)

tion and influence; it revived with
great intensity in the fourth century,
when the bar-
- baric world re
sumed its at-
tacks upon
Rome. This is
an element that
should not be
overlooked in
studying the art
of the Middle
Ages; it may
be character
ised as North
ern, bearing in
mind that the
barbaric tribes
were in con
stant communi
cation with Cen
tral Asia and
Persia, by way
of the Russia steppes, a fact which
goes far towards explaining the pres
ence of Oriental elements in the
Northern style.
A second element, the influence of
which was felt at an early period, was
the Grasco-Syrian. Marseilles was a
Greek town; ancient relations, never
interrupted, connected the south of
Gaul with the Asiatic coast. As early
as the fifth century, the western quar
ter of Asia, where, as we have seen,
the Byzantine style developed, exer
cised its influence upon Gaul, which
was frequented by Asiatic merchants
and workmen.
Italy herself, from the fourth cen
tury onward, received the Byzantine
imprint more and more profoundly;
for Constantinople began, almost from
its first foundation, to play the part
formerly filled by Alexandria. Shel

tered from the invasions that devas
tated Rome and Italy, it became the
centre of civilisation and art; Ravenna,
the imperial residence in the fifth and
sixth centuries, was a Byzantine town.
Thus, the influence exercised by Italy
over Gaul during the first centuries of
the Middle Ages, was rather Byzantine
than Italian.
This mixture of Northern, Asiatic,
Syrian, and Byzantine elements is ap
parent, though difficult to analyse, in
the evolution which gave birth suc
cessively to Romanesque and Gothic
art. It should be noted that down to
the eleventh century, the Northern
element was perpetually reinforced by
the afflux of new invaders, Saxon and
Norman; from the eleventh century
onward, the Syrian and Byzantine ele
ments were in their turn accentuated
by the results of the Crusades, which
brought the Western nations into per
manent contact, in place of intermit
tent relation, with Byzantines, Syrians,

FIG. 161. — NOTRE DAME, PARIS, WEST FRONT.
and Arabs. The Grasco-Roman ele
ment became fainter and fainter, till it
almost disappeared in Gothic archi-

96

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

tecture. Indeed, the principle of archi
tectural art in the Middle Ages was
not so much the development, as
the gradual elimination of Grasco-Ro-
man principles, under the dual influ
ence of Asiatic and Byzantine art on
the one hand, and of the barbaric
temperament on the other.
Romanesque architecture marks the
first stage in this progression, Gothic
architecture the second. The result
was gradually achieved by transitions
it is possible to demonstrate; and thus,
without denying the intervention of
foreign elements in the develop
ment of Western art, we can trace
the evolution of architecture as if it
had been perfectly spontaneous. The
tendency induced by adventitious ele
ments did not arrest evolution, but it
explains its course. Let us briefly
point out the principal phases of this
transformation. Tracing the evolution of the Roman
esque church back to its source, we
shall find that, like the Gothic church,
it owed its origin to. the Roman
basilica of the fourth century. But it
was found necessary to cover this
basilica to fit it for public worship, and
the time came when architects rejected
the timber roof, as over-liable to de
struction by fire, and also roofs con
structed of large horizontal stones, as
involving immense labour and diffi
culty in transport and manipulation.
They accordingly adopted the vault,
which enabled them to use large
quantities of small stones.
The profile of a vault may be semi
circular; or it may be a pointed arch,
that is to say, an angle formed by the
intersection of two arches. In the
same way, the lintel surmounting a
door or window may be replaced by a 97

round-headed arch or a pointed arch.
The round-headed arch may be called

FIG. 162. — CHEVET OF NOTRE DAME, PARIS.
the vital principle of Romanesque
architecture, the pointed arch that of
Gothic architecture.
These two types differ not merely
in form, but in construction. There
are two kinds of vaults: the barrel
vault, a hollow demi-cylinder with
or without arcs-doubleaux; and the
groined vault, the exterior, or ex-
trados, of which shows four ribs,
and is formed by the intersection at
right angles of two demi-cylinders.
An essential variation of the groined
vault as known to the Romans is
the groined vault with salient ribs.
Whereas the Romanesque vault is a
homogeneous dome, owing its solidity
to its points of support, the groined
vault with salient ribs owes its solidity
to the network of arches, or elastic
ossature, which holds it up as if in
equilibrium. The groined vault with salient ribs
was first used in Italy after the eighth

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

century, by the Lombard architects,
whose art, though it developed under
Byzantine influences, was not merely
an imitation of Byzantine art.
The Roman basilica, roofed and
enclosed, had become the Christian
church. The same model did duty in
the West for four centuries. After
the death of Charlemagne, civil war
and the Norman incursions checked

FIG. 163. — CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.
(Monuments Hisloriques.)
the advance of civilisation, and the
superstitious terrors with which the
approach of the dreaded year 1000 was
regarded, paralysed the Christian
world. When these were dissipated,
a period of great activity set in,
described by the chronicler, Raoul
Glaber (who died in 1050), in a famous
passage: " It was as if the world,
shaking off its old tatters, desired to
re-clothe itself in the white robes of
the Church." The same writer tells

us that some time after the year 1000
" all religious buildings, cathedrals,
country churches, village chapels, were
transformed by the faithful into some
thing better." This " something bet
ter '' refers to stone vaults, to Roman
esque architecture, in fact.
One of the most learned historians
of architecture, M. Choisy, attributes
the introduction of the vault in West
ern churches to Byzantine and Syrian
influences. The growth of the trade
between Venice and Byzantium, on
the one hand, and Venice and the West
on the other, the frequent pilgrimages
made by Occidentals to Palestine, and
finally the commerce of -Asia with the
ports of the Rhine and the Loire,
may be put forward to support this
theory. But it is possible that the
sight of the Roman arcades which
, still existed may have helped, or even
sufficed to suggest to Western archi-
i?cts the substitution of the round-
headed arch for the horizontal entab
lature. The Romanesque church differs in
many particulars from the basilica. It
was built in the form of a Latin cross,
that is to say, the long nave was in
tersected at a point two-thirds of its
length by a perpendicular transept;
the roof was vaulted, the windows
generally round-headed; finally, it had
as a rule one or more towers, forming
a corporate part of the building. These
modifications, and several others, were
not at once adopted; we can trace
their evolution down to the middle of
the twelfth century, and even later.
But the general conception was the
same: a central nave, lighted laterally,
ending in an apse, and side aisles,
generally two in number.
To support the weight of their

98

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

vaults, the Romanesque architects were
obliged to increase the thickness of

FIG. 164. — RHEIMS CATHEDRAL.
(Photo, by Courleux.)
their walls and pillars. Thick, solid
walls admit of few apertures; the
lighting of Romanesque churches is
consequently insufficient. The same
exigencies of stability led the Roman
esque architects to increase the width
and diminish the height of their build
ings; hence, a certain heaviness is
inseparable from this kind of con
struction. The oldest and finest of the Roman
esque churches in France are found
south of the Loire. This architectural
style was fostered mainly by the monks
of Cluny, whose vast Abbey church,
destroyed under the first Empire, was
imitated everywhere, even in the Holy
Land. Numerous local schools sprang
up, in Burgundy, Auvergne, Perigord,
&c. That on the banks of the Rhine,
which was influenced by Lombard
architecture, was perhaps the most
recent, but the great churches built
at Spires, Mayence, and Worms, are
among the masterpieces of religious

architecture. In Italy, the principal
monument of Romanesque art is
the Cathedral of Pisa (1063-1118).
A good example still exists in Paris,
though it has been much altered and
restored, the ancient Church of St.
Germain-des-Pres. In England, the
rude architecture of the Saxons, of
which only negligible fragments sur
vive, gave place to the Romanesque
imported by the Norman conquerors.
The earliest English examples (parts
of Canterbury, Winchester, and Roch
ester Cathedrals) are therefore closely
akin to French Norman buildings. But
the independent genius of the English
soon made itself felt in this as in
other domains. By the beginning of
the twelfth century the style, locally
known as Norman in contradistinction
to Saxon, had taken on a distinct char
acter, heavier and more massive than
that of its prototypes in Normandy.
Durham Cathedral is a typical exam
ple of this naturalised Romanesque.

FIG. 165. — AMIENS CATHEDRAL.
(Photo, by Neurdein.)

Hitherto, I have said nothing of the
ogive. By an error, dating from the
99 H 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

beginning of the nineteenth century,
this term has been applied to the
pointed arch; strictly speaking, an
ogive (augiva) is the salient rib that
sustains a vault, to augment (augere)
its power of resistance. We may
therefore speak of ogival vaults, and
call Gothic architecture ogival, but we
must not forget that this characteristic
is not essential to the style and may
be absent; Gothic architecture implies
not only the ribbed vault, but the use
of the flying
buttress, and a
decoration in
troducing nat
ural forms,
the plants and
fruits of the
region round
the building.
The flying
buttress is a
logical conse
quence of the
ogive. As the
height of the
churches in
creased, the
walls, which
had been fur
ther weakened
by large win
dow-spaces, were no longer strong
enough to resist the thrust of the
vaults; it was found necessary to
reinforce them on the outside. To
this end, stone arches, supported at
the spring by solid masses of masonry
called buttresses, were raised against
them on the outside. These arches,
known as flying buttresses, were there
fore designed to carry the vertical
thrust of the lofty interior vaults to
the outside of the building. There is

FIG. 166. — STRASBURG
CATHEDRAL.

FIG. 167. — COLOGNE CATHEDRAL.
nothing analogous in any other system
of construction.
Thus, we see that whereas the
heathen temple and the Romanesque
church contain within themselves the
principle of their stability, the Gothic
church owes its safety to external
abutments; it is like an animal part
of whose skeleton should be outside

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FIG. 168. — SAINTE CHAPELLE, PARIS.
(Photo, by Levy.)
IOO
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

its body. These buttresses and arches,
though disposed and decorated with

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.

much art, naturally suggest the idea of
crutches. Thus, Gothic art, although
it produced exquisite masterpieces,
bore within it a menacing germ of
decay, and among the hundreds of
Gothic buildings we know, there is
scarcely one which was entirely

finished; many were already partially
ruined, when the work of completing
them was being carried on.
It seems nearly certain that the first
Gothic monuments were built in the
He de France and in Picardy. The
south, where the light was more
brilliant, and the Roman tradition more
vital, remained faithful to the Roman
esque basilica; in the North of France,
from an early period, architects sought
to produce a type of church that would
admit of larger and more numerous
apertures. The traditions of timber
construction may, as Courajod has
suggested, have contributed to this
evolution of the art of building. But

FIG. 169A.

-WESTMINSTER ABBEY, THE NAVE.
(Photo, by Spooner.)

FIG. 169B. — SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.
(From Constable's picture, Victoria and Albert
Museum.)

" the North " is a somewhat vague
term, and though Gothic art first
flourished between the Seine and the
Somme, it does not follow that the
intersecting arch was invented in this
region. In Germany, Gothic art did not
appear before 1209 (Magdeburg) ; it is
perfectly certain that French Gothic
preceded German Gothic by about a
century. In the He de France, at
Morienval, an example exists, dating

IOI

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

from 1115. This fact, established in
1890, was cited as a conclusive evi
dence of the priority of French Gothic
for some ten years. But quite recently,
ogival arches just as ancient have
been discovered in Picardy, and in

FIG. 170. — PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL, WEST
FRONT.

in England, where it may have
emanated from a Norman artist. Or
we may perhaps go further, and ask
almost simultaneously in the two coun
tries, each working out identical prin
ciples of construction.
Besides the hypothesis which de
scribes the discovery of the intersect
ing arch to Western Europe, there is
another, which attributes the inven
tion to the Syrians; the rise of Gothic
architecture was, in fact, contemporary
with those armed pilgrimages or cru
sades which brought Syria into inti
mate relations with the north-west of
Europe. However this may be, the new style
evolved with great rapidity. The
Gothic choir of the Abbey Church of
St. Denis was begun in 1144, the
Church of Noyon in 1140, Notre Dame
(Paris) in 1163, Bourges in 1172,
Chartres in 1194, Rheims in 1211,
Amiens in 1215. The Sainte Chapelle

England, where
the ogival vaults
of Durham
Cathedral are
said to date
from the begin
ning of the
twelfth century.
We may there
fore now en
quire, not if the
Gothic style first
flourished in the
He de France,
which is a mat
ter beyond con
troversy, but if
the invention which is its distin
guishing characteristic was first made
in the He de France, in Picardy, or

171. — LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

of Paris was consecrated in 1248
(Figs. 161-168). From the North of
France the Gothic type — propagated

102

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

more especially .by the monks of
Citeaux — passed into Alsace (Stras-
burg, 1277), into Germany (Cologne,
1248), into Italy (Milan), into Spain,
Portugal, Sweden, Bohemia, and Hun
gary. The French Crusaders intro
duced it into the island of Cyprus and
into Syria. In England, it assumed a
national character, the main features
of which were a greater structural so
briety and care for solidity, combined
later with more richness and
beauty in the ribbing of vaults
and in ornament generally, and
a tendency to rely upon length
for sublimity of effect, rather
than upon height, as did the
French architects. It has, how
ever, been made a reproach to
the English Gothic artists that
they made an excessive use of
vertical lines, especially in their
windows (Figs. 169, 170). In
1 174, a French architect, William
of Sens, rebuilt the cathedral
of Canterbury (Fig 169) which
had been, for the second time,
destroyed by fire. The choir of
Westminster Abbey (Fig. 169A) was
built from 1245 to 1269 ; Salisbury from
1220 to 1258 (Fig. 169B). Lincoln was
finished about 1282 (Fig. 171). Every
where else, the French type prevailed.
Chartres and Bourges were the models
for Spain ; Noyon and Laon were imi
tated at Lausanne and at Bamberg (the
towers) ; Cologne is a combination of
Amiens and Beauvais. The country
which least readily assimilated the
Gothic style was Italy (Milan Cathe
dral). The Romanesque churches
did not disappear here ; there is an un
broken continuity between them and
the buildings of the Renaissance,
whereas Gothic art intervenes as a

brilliant episode, the apogee of which
was but little removed from its decline.
Three periods have been discerned
in Gothic architecture, determined by.
the shape and decoration of the win
dows; to these the terms a lancettes
(lancet-shaped) or Primitive, Rayon-
nant or Secondary, and Flamboyant
or Third Period, are applied in France,
while in England three distinct periods
are also recognised, and generically

FIG 172. — HOTEL DE CLUNY, PARIS.
distinguished as Thirteenth Century,
or Early English; Fourteenth Century,
or Decorated, and Fifteenth Century,
or Perpendicular (Fig. 170). But all
these terms are somewhat loosely ap
plied. It will be enough to say here
that the principle of Gothic archi
tecture led it on incessantly to in
crease the height of vaults, to enlarge
open spaces and windows, to multiply
belfries and pinnacles. The Gothic
churches of the fifteenth century are
both mannered, and alarming in the
over-slenderness of their structure.
Gothic art was not crushed by the art
of the Renaissance; it fell a victim to
its inherent fragility.

103

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Churches were not the sole fruit of
Gothic art, though the cathedral is its

1

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FIG. 173. — JACQUES CCEUR S HOUSE, BOURGES.
most perfect expression. Among the
monuments of its later period are the
beautiful town-halls of Flemish cities
(Fig. 171), which rose confronting the
churches, with belfries containing the
municipal bells, as if to symbolise the
growth of a new power, that of the
civic laity. Other productions were
magnificent abbeys, notably that of
Mont St. Michel, and charming pri
vate houses, such as the Hotel de
Cluny in Paris (Fig. 172), and Jacques
Cceur's House at Bourges (Fig. 173).
Fortified castles, and keeps, or don
jons (from the Latin dominium) in
the Romanesque style had multiplied
from the tenth century onwards. The
exigencies of defence forbade the
full acceptance in these of a style
in which open spaces predominated;
but Gothic art inspired the interior
arrangement, the decoration of the
doors, the windows, and the roof; it
will suffice to instance the castles of
La Ferte-Milon and Pierrefonds, dat
ing from the close of the fourteenth
century, buildings which have been

justly eulogised for " their imposing
masses, their noble outlines, the Doric
pride and frankness of their perpen
dicular design."
If the aim of architecture, considered
as an art, should be to free itself as
much as possible from subjection to
its materials, it may be said that
no buildings have more successfully
realised this ideal than the Gothic
churches. And there is more to be said
in this connection. Its light and airy
system of construction, the freedom
and slenderness of its supporting skele
ton, afford, as it were, a presage of an
art that began to develop in the nine
teenth century, that of metallic archi
tecture. With the help of metal, and
of cement reinforced by metal bars,
the moderns might equal the most dar
ing feats of the Gothic architects; it
would even be easy for them to sur
pass them, without endangering the
solidity of the structure, as did the
audacities of Gothic art. In the con-

FIG. 173A. — HOTEL DE VILLE, ARRAS.
flict that obtains between the two ele
ments of construction, solidity and

104

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
open space, everything seems to show future before it, and that, following on
that the principle of free spaces will the revival of the Grasco-Roman style
prevail, that the palaces and houses oi from the sixteenth century to our own
the future will be flooded with air day, we shall see a yet more enduring
and light, that the formula popularised renaissance of the Gothic style applied
by Gothic architecture has a great to novel materials.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XII.
E. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire de V Architecture jrangaise, io vols., Paris, 1854-1869;
Diclionnaire du Mobilier jrangais, 4 vols., Paris, 1855-1873; Architecture mililaire, Paris,
1854; Enlretiens sur V Architecture, 2 vols., Paris, 1858-1872; Histoire d'une Forleresse,
Paris, 1874; Histoire de V Habitation, Paris, 1875; J. Quicherat, Melanges d'Archeologie
et d'Histoire, vol. ii., Paris, 1886.
K. Schnaase, Geschichte der bildenden Kiinste, znd ed., vols. iii. and iv., Diisseldorf,
1869-1871; Aug. Choisy, Histoire de V Architecture, vol. ii., Paris, 1899; W. Liibke,
Geschichte der Architektur, 6th ed., vol. ii., Leipzig, 1886; E. Schmitt, Handbuch der Archi-
lektur, vol. iv., Stuttgart, 1902 (cf. Repertorium, 1902, p. 454); G. Dehio et G. von Bezold,
Die kirchliche Baukunst des Abendlandes, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1884-1901; L. Courajod,
Legons professees a VEcole du Louvre, vol. i., Paris, 1899 (Origines del' Art roman et goihique) ;
C. Enlart, Manuel d' Archeologie jrangaise, vol. i., ii., Paris, 1902-3 x); L. Bonnard, Notions
d'Archeologie monumentale, Paris, 1902; J. Brutails, V Archeologie du Moyen Age, ses
methodes, Paris, 1901 (cf. Bulletin monumental, 1901, p. 249); R. Rosieres, L' Evolution
de V Architecture en France, Paris, 1894: A. von Cohausen, Befesligungswesen der Vorzeit
und des Mittelalters, Wiesbaden, 1898; O. Piper, Burgenkunde, Munich, 1895.
E. Corroyer, V Architecture romane, Paris, 1888; A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana,
vol. iii., Milan, 1903 (Romanesque and Gothic Periods); E. Bertaux, VArt dans Vltalie
meridionale, t. i., Paris, 1903 (v. to xiii. century); O. Mothes, Die Baukunst des Mittelalters
in Italien, 2 vols., Jena, 1884; Dartein, V Architecture lombarde, Paris, 1882; Rivoira, Le
origini della architettura lombarda, vol. i., Rome, 1901; R. Cattaneo, V Architecture en
Italie du VIe au XIe siecle, translation by Le Monnier, Venice, 1901; Rohault de Fleury,
Les Monuments de Pise au Moyen dge, Paris, 1886; R. Adamy, Die Merovingische Orne-
menlik als Grundlage der romanischen (Deutsche Bauzeitung, 1896, p. 80); L. Labande,
Etudes d'Histoire et d'Archeologie romanes (Provence et Languedoc), Paris, 1902; A. de
Rochemonteix, Les Eglises romanes de la Haute Auvergne, Paris, 1902 (cf. Gazette des Beaux
Arts, 1902, ii., p. 436); Abbe Pottier, VAbbaye de Saint-Pierre 'a Moissac (Album des
Monuments du Midi de la France, Toulouse, 1897, vol. i., p. 48; Romanesque capitals. _
L. Gonse, L'Arl goihique, Paris, no date; G. Dehio, Die Anfange des Golischen Bausliles
(Repertorium, 1896, p. 169) ; Anthyme Saint-Paul, La Designation de I' Architecture goihique
(Bulletin monumental, 1893, p. 1); L. Leclere, VOrigine de la vo&le d' ogives (Revue de
V Universite de Bruxelles, 1901-1902, p. 765) ; R. de Lasteyrie, Les Origines de V Architecture
goihique, Caen, 1901; A. Pugin, Gothic Ornament (France and England), London,
L. de Fourcaud, VArt goihique (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1891, ii., p. 89); Clara Perkins,
French Cathedrals and Chateaux, 2 vols., Boston, 1903.
Eug. Lefevre-Pontalis, V Architecture religieuse dans Vancien diocese de Soissons, Paris,
1897; C. Enlart, Origines frangaises de V Architecture goihique en Italie, Paris, 1895 (cf.
Revue archeologique, 1893, ii., p. 284); Origines de V Architecture gothique en Espagne el en
Portugal (Bulletin du Comiti, 1894, p. 168) ; E. Bertaux, Castel del Monte et les ArcUtecles
jrangais de Frederic II. (Comptes rendus de V Academic des Inscriptions, 1897, p. 432) ; Edw.
S Prior, A History of Gothic Art in England, London, 1900; P. A. Ditchfield, The Cathe
drals of Great Britain, London, 1902 ; C. Enlart, VArt gothique et la Renaissance en Chypre,
2 vols., Paris, 1899; Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, London, 1859, and History of
Architecture, 2 vols, 1865, 1874; G. Gilbert Scott, Lectures on the Rise and Development
1 This book gives a valuable bibliography.
105

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
of Mediceval Architecture, 2 vols., London, 1879. Charles Moore, Development and Char
acter of Gothic Architecture, New York, 1904; E. Corroyer, V Architecture gothique, Paris,
1891, English trans., London, 1893.
G. Durand, Monographic de la Cathedrale d' Amiens, 2 vols., Amiens, 1901, 1903; J.
Denais, Monographic de la Cathedrale d' Angers, Paris, 1899; Abbe Bulteau, Monographic
de la Cathedrale de Chartres, 2nd ed., Chartres, 1902 (cf. Bull, monumental, 1903, p. 581);
Eug. Lefevre-Pontalis, Histoire de la Cathedrale de Noyon, Paris, 1900; L. Demaison, La
Cathedrale de Reims (Bulletin monumental, 1902, p. 3) ; E. Lambin, L'Eglise de Saint-Leu
d'Esserent (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1901, i., p. 305); H. Stein, Pierre de Montereau, archi-
tecte de Saint Denis (Mem. de la Soe. des antiq., 1900, t. Ixi., p. 79); A. de Geymiiller, La
Cathedrale de Milan (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1890, i., p. 152).

106

XIII

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC SCULPTURE
The Church the Patroness of Art in the Middle Ages.— The Origin of Painted Glass-
Illuminated Manuscripts. — Decorative Sculpture in Romanesque and Gothic Churches.
— Conventional Character of Romanesque Ornament. — Realistic Character of Gothic.
— The "Vintage Capital" at Rheims. — The Educational Intention of the Gothic
Cathedral. — Vincent de Beauvais' Miroir du Monde. — The Supposed Ascetic Character
of Gothic Art Denied. — The Anti-Clerical Tendencies of the Gothic Imagiers a Ro
mantic Fiction. — Portrait Statues on Tombs. — Statuettes in Wood and Ivory. — The
Serenity of Gothic Art. — The Rise of tbe Burgundian School.

The Church was not only rich
and powerful in the Middle Ages ;
it dominated and directed all the
manifestations of human activity.
There was practically no art but the
art it encouraged, the art it needed to
construct and adorn its buildings,
carve its ivories and reliquaries, and
paint its glass and its missals. Fore
most among the arts it fostered was
architecture, which never played so
important a part in any other society.
Even now, when we enter a Roman
esque or Gothic church, we are im
pressed by the might of that vast
force of which it is the manifestation,
a force which shaped the destines of
Europe for a thousand years.
Wall painting, the special art of
primitive Christianity, was relatively
neglected both in the Romanesque
and Gothic periods. This was
primarily a result of construction.
The Romanesque churches were too
dark; the Gothic churches had very
few flat surfaces suitable for decora
tion. On the other hand, these latter
had lofty windows, which had to be
filled in and beautified by coloured

glass. The art of glass painting is
inseparable from Gothic art, and it
was during the apogee of this art, in
the thirteenth century, that the glass
painters lavished their masterpieces
on the churches of St. Denis, Chartres,
Poitiers, and Sens. The brilliant and
somewhat crude colour proper to
coloured glass exercised an undeniable
influence on the painting of the fifteenth
century. Some time had to elapse
before the eye could accustom itself to
tones more fused and discreet.
While glass painting was in its
glory, the illumination of manuscripts
was also practised. But it was not
until the middle of the fourteenth
century that this art achieved any
pre-eminent results. Down to this
time, illuminators and calligraphers
worked from coloured designs which
they transmitted to one another.
Originality was shown chiefly in the
initials and the borders, which were
sometimes treated with astonishing
richness of invention (Figs. 174, 175).
The decoration of Romanesque
churches was often carried out by
the monks who built them; that of

107

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Gothic churches was essentially the
work of lay sculptors, imagiers, and

FIG. 174. — INTERLACED ORNAMENT.
From tbe Irish manuscript known as the Book, of
Durlow (seventh century) (Trinity College,
Dublin).
(Photo, by Lawrence.)
stone-carvers, who formed themselves
into guilds. In both epochs the favour
ite form of decoration was the bas-
relief. The Romanesque sculptors
ornamented the tympana of porches
with large religious compositions ; they
also carved " histories,'' and figures of
men and of animals on the capitals of
columns and on friezes. The Gothic
sculptors, more especially in France,
introduced relief and statues in all
parts of the vast buildings, in the
porches, the galleries, and the choir-
stalls. It has been calculated that
Chartres Cathedral contains no less
than 10,000 figures — statues and reliefs,
persons and animals painted on glass.
Although the transition between
Romanesque and Gothic sculpture was
not abrupt, and there are monuments
in which the characteristics of the two
?.re associated, it may be said that,

taken as a whole or at the apogee of
each, the contrast between them is very
striking. Romanesque sculpture is the pro
duct of very diverse influences, which
vary in intensity according to the
country ; foremost among them was
the persistent influence of Roman art
— especially in Italy and the south of
France — and to this were added
Byzantine, Arab, and Persian ele
ments, transmitted by war or com
merce, and the influence of the art of
northern countries, with its taste for
complicated forms and interlacements.
One influence is lacking in this com
posite art, that of Nature, studied at
first hand. The Romanesque sculp
tors having eyes, saw not. Their art
is sometimes majestic, powerful, and
decorative ; but it is always abstract,
conventional, and indifferent to reality.

FIG. 175.-

-ILLUMINATED INITIAL WITH INTER
LACED ORNAMENT.

From the Irish manuscript known as the Book of
Kells (eighth century) (Trinity College, Dublin).
(Photo, by Lawrence.)

One of the most characteristic ex
amples that can be quoted is the tym-

108

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC SCULPTURE

FIG. 176. — THE LAST JUDGMENT.
Tympanum in Porch of Autun Cathedral.
(Photo, by Giraudon.)
panum of the Cathedral of Autun, rep
resenting the Last Judgment (Fig. 176).
This vast composition, dating from
about 1 130, is not lacking in grandeur ;
it even reveals a remarkable taste for
vivacity of movement. But the draw
ing is grotesque, the bodies ludicrously
elongated, the draperies stiff and
meagre. The tympanum of the Church
of Moissac (Tarn et Garonne), later by
some twenty years than that of Autun,

IG. 177. — CHRIST WITH THE EVANGELISTS AND
THE ELDERS OF THE APOCALYPSE.
Tympanum in Porch of Abbey Church at
Moissac.
(Photo, by Giraudon.)

is hardly less barbaric (Fig. 177). But
here again, while the drawing is very

defective, we note a mobility and
variety of attitude which show that the
vitality of native tendencies had not
succumbed to Byzantine hieraticism.
In contrast to this Romanesque
art, as yet in bondage to convention,
ignorant or disdainful of Nature, the
mature Gothic art of the thirteenth cen
tury appeared as a brilliant revival of
realism. The great sculptors who
adorned the cathedrals of Paris,
Amiens, Rheims, and Chartres with
their works, were realists in the high
est sense of the word. They sought
in Nature, not only their knowledge of
human forms, and of the draperies that
cover them, but also that of the prin
ciples of decoration. Save in the gar
goyles of cathedrals and in certain
minor sculptures, we no longer find in
the thirteenth century those u'nreal
figures of animals, nor those orna
ments, complicated as nightmares,
which load the capitals of "Romanesque
churches ; the flora of the country,
studied with loving attention, is the
sole, or almost the sole, source from
which decorators take their motives.
It is in this charming profusion of
flowers and foliage that the genius of
Gothic architecture is most freely dis
played. One of the most admirable
of its creations is the famous Capital
of the Vintage in Notre Dame at
Rheims, carved about the year 1250.
Since the first century of the Roman
Empire (see p. 80) art had never
imitated Nature so .perfectly, nor has
it ever since done so with a like grace
and sentiment.
The Gothic cathedral is a perfect
encylopasdia of human knowledge.
It contains scenes from the Scriptures
and the legends of the saints; motives
from the animal and vegetable king-

109

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

dom ; representations of the seasons
of agricultural labour, of the arts and
sciences and crafts, and finally moral
allegories, as, for instance, ingenious
personifications of the virtues and the
vices. In the thirteenth century a
learned Dominican, Vincent of Beau
vais, was employed by St. Louis to
write a great work which was to be an
epitome of all the knowledge of his
times. This compilation, called The
Mirror of the World, is divided into

FIG. 178. — "THE VINTAGE CAPITAL."
(Rheims Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Thuillot.)
four parts : the Mirror of Nature, the
Mirror of Science, the Moral Mirror,
and the Historical Mirror. A contem
porary archasologist, M. E. Male, has
shown that the works of art of our great
cathedrals are a translation into stone
of the Mirror of Vincent of Beauvais,
setting aside the episodes from Greek
and Roman history, which would
have been out of place. It was
not that the imagiers had read Vin
cent's work ; but that, like him, they
sought to epitomise all the knowledge
of their contemporaries. The first aim
of their art is not to please, but to
teach; they offer an encyclopedia for
the use of those who cannot read,
translated by sculptor or glass-painter
into a clear and precise language,

FIG. 170. — THE MEETING BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND
MELCHISEDECH.
(Rheims Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Giraudon.)
under the lofty direction of the Church,
which left nothing to chance. It was
present always and everywhere, advis
ing and superintending the artist,
leaving him to his own devices only
when he modelled the fantastic animals
of the gargoyles, or borrowed decora
tive motives from the vegetable king
dom. There are certain prejudices against
his admirable, though incomplete, art,
which it is difficult to combat. It is
often said, for instance, that all Gothic

FIG. 180. — GROUP FROM THE VISITATION.
(Rheims Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Giraudon.)

IIO

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC SCULPTURE

figures are stiff and emaciated. To
convince ourselves of the contrary we

FIG. 181. — A PROPHET.
(Rheims Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Giraudon.)
need only study the marvellous sculp
ture of the meeting between Abraham
and Melchisedech, in Rheims Cathe
dral (Fig. 179) ; or again, in the same
cathedral,1 the Visitation, the seated
Prophet, and the standing Angel, or the
exquisite Magdalen of Bordeaux Cathe
dral (Figs. 180-183). What can we see
in these that is stiff, sickly, and puny?
The art that has most affinity with
perfect Gothic is neither Romanesque
nor Byzantine, but the Greek art of
from 500 to 450 b.c. By a strange
coincidence, the Gothic artists even
reproduce the somewhat stereotyped
smile of their forerunners.
It has also been said that Gothic art
bears the impress of ardent piety and
emotional mysticism, that it dwells on
the sufferings of Jesus, of the Virgin,
1 The author of this amazing group must
certainly have seen and studied antique
statues. But which and where were these ?

and of the martyrs with harrowing
persistency. Those who believe this
have never studied Gothic art. It is
so far from the truth that, as a fact, the
Gothic art of the best period, the thir
teenth century, never represented any
sufferings save those of the damned.
The Virgins are smiling and gracious,
never grief-stricken. There is not a
single Gothic rendering of the Virgin
weeping at the foot of the Cross.
The words and music of the Stabat
Mater, which are sometimes instanced
as the highest expression of the religion
of the Middle Ages, date from the end
of the thirteenth century- at the very
earliest, and did not become popular
till the fifteenth century. Jesus himself
is not represented as suffering, but with
a serene and majestic expression. The
famous statue known as the Beau
Dieu d' Amiens may be instanced as
typical. I may remark, in this connection,
that Gothic art treated but few Scrip
ture episodes, choosing those which

FIG. 182. — AN ANGEL.
(Rheims Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Giraudon.)

Ill

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

conveyed some doctrine and tended to
edification, that is to say, to the

FIG. 183. — ST. MARY MAGDALEN.
(Bordeaux Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Giraudon.)
glorification of the faith. Such was
the meeting of Abraham and Mel
chisedech, because Melchisedech, like
Jesus, was both priest and king, and
because, in offering bread and wine to
Abraham, he prefigured the institution
of the Eucharist. On the other hand,

FIG. 184. — STATUE ON TOMB OF HAYMON, COUNT
OF CORBEIL. (C 1320.)
(Church of St. Spire, Corbeil, Seine et Oise.)
as M. Male has pointed out, mediasval
artists seem to have been insensible
to the more human, tender, and
picturesque elements of the Old and
New Testaments. The artists them
selves were not theologians, but they
were directed by theologians. Now

the theology of this period, as repre
sented by the Summa of St. Thomas
Aquinas, was by no means sentimental.
It was a haughty and positive science,
much addicted to the chopping of
logic, which aspired to secure man's
salvation by appealing to his reason,

FIG. 185. — STATUE ON TOMB OF ROBERT D'ARTOIS,
By PEPIN DE HUY. (c. 1320.)
(Church of St. Denis, near Paris.)

and not by touching his heart. It is
strange that the same mistake should
have been made in estimating Dante,
the great poet of the thirteenth century.
Because we find in his works a Beatrice
and a Francesca da Rimini, he is
credited with modern ideas, a senti
mental melan
choly, when he
was above all
things a theolo
gian, a logician,
and a politician.
The sickly, tear
ful, plaintive
Middle Age is
an absurd inven
tion of the Ro
mantic School
of the nine
teenth century.
No less false
is the idea popu
larised by Vic
tor Hugo, that
the imagiers
had escaped
from the influence of the Church,
that they were independent and

FIG. 186. — VIRGIN AND
CHILD.
Ivory Statuette.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Giraudon.)

112

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC SCULPTURE

seditious spirits, and that liberty
of architecture was the mediasval
equivalent for modern liberty of the
press. It was highly dangerous to
appear independent or seditious in
the Middle Ages, especially when the
authority of the Church was involved.
Such spirits ran the risk of the stake
or of imprisonment for life. From
1234 to 1239, in the reign of St. Louis,
about the time of the completion of
the Sainte-Chapelle, Robert, Inquisitor
of France, caused 222 persons sus
pected of holding " opinions," to be
burnt alive in Flanders, Picardy and
Champagne. The imagiers, as I have
already said, were only allowed a free
hand in the execution of minor decora
tions; in all the sacred or profane
subjects they treated, the " clerks," in
other words, the Church, guided their
hands. Much has been made of
certain caricatures of monks which
figure in the reliefs of some cathedrals ;
but these do not appear at all till the end
of the fourteenth century, and besides,
they are much less malicious than they
are said to be. The theory of the
anti-clerical imagier is piquant, no
doubt ; but it is pure romance.
Gothic sculpture was not confined
to the decoration of cathedrals ; it
produced, especially from the four
teenth century onwards, a number of
memorial statues for tombs, which
gradually became portraits. It was
portraiture which led Gothic art from
realism to naturalism, to the rendering
of individual expression. Its first essays
were the gisant arid gisantes, i.e., re
cumbent male and female figures, repre
senting deceased persons, lying in calm,
serene attitudes; in the sixteenth cen
tury this type was replaced by that of
the defunct kneeling, with hands folded

in prayer, which was borrowed from
the votive figures of donors, and lasted
almost to our own times. The fine
recumbent statues of Haymon, Count
of Corbeil, and of Robert d'Artois
(Figs. 184, 185) are preserved at
Corbeil and at St. Denis ; those of
Philip VI. and Charles V., the works
of Andre Beauneveu, a sculptor of

FIG. 187. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Ivory Statuette, French.
(Martin Leroy Collection, Paris.)
Hainault, who worked in France, are
in the Louvre.
The chief . masterpieces of Gothic
sculpture other than church decora
tions, are statuettes and bas-reliefs in
wood and ivory, which were often
painted and gilded (Figs. 186, 187).
Ivory was a material much prized, more
especially by the craftsmen of the
fourteenth century; but the curved form
13 *

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

of the elephant's tusk often forced the
artist to make the standing figures he
carved in it protrude in the middle,
as if the weight of the torso were
thrown backwards on the hips. The
types thus created were, however, so
popular, notably that of the Virgin
with the Child, that in the fifteenth
and even in the sixteenth century
artists working in wood or stone con
tinued to carve Virgins in this curious
attitude, with the head thrown back
and the centre of the body advanced.
I have spoken several times of the
serenity of Gothic art; this is a word
I have scarcely had occasion to use
since I spoke of Greek art. Indeed,
the more one considers the matter, the
more clearly one perceives that Greek
and Gothic art are sisters, long hostile,
but at last reconciled. The superior
ity of Greek art is undeniable, and this
superiority arises above all, from the
important fact, that Gothic art is
essentially the art of draped figures.
The prejudice of the age in which it
flourished, and the nature of the
religious monuments it adorned, for
bade the representation of the nude
almost absolutely. Even when it was
thought permissible to represent it, the

result is timid and mediocre; Gothic
art produced no satisfactory figure of
the Infant Jesus, or of Adam and Eve.
It must further be remembered that
the evolution of Greek art continued
for some thousand years, whereas
Gothic art from the beginning of the
fourteenth century, began to show signs
of exhaustion, and became mannered
and complex. A kind of revival took
place, it is true, in the middle of the
fourteenth century, but mainly in me
morial sculpture. A new spirit, breath
ing from beyond the Alps, brought
the lessons of the Italian Trecento;
other influences, at present obscure,
had their points of departure in Flan
ders and the Rhine Valley. These ele
ments were combined and developed
in Paris, around the Court of Charles
V., and reached their highest fruition
in the Flemish School of Burgundy,
during the last quarter of the fourteenth
century. Yet there is no solution of
continuity in the history of sculpture ;
the genius of the thirteenth century
imagiers merely became keener and
more expressive ; it continued its
course in the great Franco-Flemish
School, and exercised a fruitful in
fluence upon the painting of the day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XIII.
Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionaries, works by Schnaase, Gonse, Bertaux, given on pp. 104-5.
— W. Liibke, Geschichte der Plastik, vols, i. and ii., 3rd ed., Leipzig, 1884; L. Gonse,
La Sculpture jrangaise Oepuis le XIVe siecle, Paris, 1895; L. Courajod and F. Marcou, Le
Musee de Sculpture comparee du Trocadero, Paris, 1892; L. Courajod, Legons professees a
Vhcole du Louvre, vol. ii., Paris, 1901 (Origines de la Renaissance) ; E. Male, VArt religieux
du XIIIe siecle en France, 2nd ed., Paris, 1902 £cf. Bertaux, Revue des Deux-Mondes, May 1,
1899) ; La Legends doree dans I'art du Moyen Age (Revue de VArt, 1899, i., p. 187); P. Vitry
et G- Briere, Documents de la Sculpture francaise du Moyen Age (800 ill.), Paris, 1904; E.
Lambin, La Flore sculpturale du Moyen Age (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, i., p. 291).
M. Voege, Die Anfange d-es monumentalen Stiles im Mittelalter, Strasburg, 1894 (sup
posed priority of the Provencal school to that of the He de France); Der provenzalische
Einfluss in Italien (Repertorium, 1902, p. 409); R. de Lasteyrie, 6tudes sur la Sculpture
114

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC SCULPTURE
frangaise au Moyen age (Monuments Piot, vol. viii., 1902; porch of Chartres and discussion
of Voege's thesis); A. Marignan, Histoire de la Sculpture en Languedoc aux XIIe-XIIIe
Siecles, Paris, 1902.
R. Koechlin, La Sculpture beige et les Influences jrangaises aux XIIIe el XI Ve Siecles
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902, ii., p. 519); K. Franck, Der Meister der Ecclesia und Syna-
goge am Strasburger Miinster, Diisseldorf, 1903 (influence of Chartres upon Strasburg); Ad.
Goldschmidt Studien zur Geschichte der sdchsischen Skulptur, Berlin, 190? ; A. Weese, Die
Bamberger Domskulpluren, Strasburg, 1898; M. Voege, same subject (Repertorium, 1901,
p. 255); Max Zimrnermann, Oberitalienische Plastik im Mittelaller, Leipzig, 1897; A.
Venturi, Storia dell' arte italiana, vols, i-iii., Milan, 1901, 1902, 1903; H. v. der Gabelentz,
Mittelalterliche Plastik in Veneaig, Leipzig, 1903.
H. Otte, Handbuch der kirchlichen Kunstarchceologie des deutschen Mittelalters, 5th ed.,
Leipzig, 1883-1885; E. Molinier, Les Ivoires, Paris, n. d.; La Descenle de la Croix, groupe
en ivoire du XIIIe siecle au Louvre (Monuments Piot, vol. iii., p. 121); Musee de Berlin,
Die Eljenbeinbilder, Berlin, 1903; O. Merson, Les Vitraux, Paris, 1895; H. Oldtmann,
Geschichte der Glasmalerei, Cologne, 1898; Lecoy de la Marche, Les Manuscrits et la Minia
ture, Paris, n. d. ; A. Labitte, Les Manuscrits, Paris, 1893; A. Haseloff, Les Psautiers de
Saint Louis (Mem. de la Soe. des Antiquaires, 1890, vol. lviii., p. 18).

"5

1 2

XIV
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE AND
MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Gothic Architecture Alien to the Italian Genius. — Renaissance Architecture in Italy. —
"Renaissance Art" a Misleading Term. — The Florentine Palaces Types of
Renaissance Architecture. — The Differences between Gothic and Renaissance
Churches. — The Duomo of Florence. — The Riccardi and Strozzi Palaces. —
St. Peter's, Rome. — The Disastrous Influence of Michelangelo on his Imitators. — ¦
The Baroque Style. — The Palazzo Pesaro or Bevilacqua, Venice. — Renaissance
Architecture never fully accepted by the Northern Nations. — French Castles and
Mansions of the Renaissance Period. — The Louvre. — Chateau of St. Germain. —
Heidelberg. — Renaissance Buildings in Paris and London. — The Rococo Style. —
The Empire Style. — French Architecture of the Second Empire. — Renaissance
Architecture in Germany. — Modern Gothic in England. — The "New Art," or Anglo-
Belgian Movement.

Gothic architecture, essentially a
northern, Franco-Germanic manifesta-

-RICCARDI PALACE, FLORENCE.

tion, struck no very deep roots in
Italy. It seems strange at first sight,
that Grasco-Roman architecture should
have found no imitators till so late.

If the statues and paintings of ancient
Rome had disappeared, or were buried
under ruins, the soil of the peninsula
was covered with Roman monuments,
to which no single Italian builder for
ten centuries had dreamt of turning
for inspiration. Indeed, far from this,
architects often demolished them to
make use of the dressed stones. But
the time came when Humanism, by
which we mean a taste for the litera
ture and history of the ancients, drew
the attention of artists to the character
of their monuments. It was then that
the architecture of the Renaissance
arose; it must be looked upon as a
consequence of the Humanist move
ment, together with which it spread
into the West of Europe.
The term " Renaissance " is by no
means a happy one, for it implies two
mistaken ideas: that art was dead,
and that it rose again in its old form.
As a fact, art was not dead, for dead
things are not capable of evolution;

116

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

and at the beginning of the revival,
classic art found disciples, but not

FIG. 189. — COURT OF THE PALAZZO DELLA
CANCELLERIA, ROME.
copyists. The men of the Renaissance
themselves may have cherished the
delusion that they were repeating the
lessons of Rome, but in reality they
were merely innovators, who had
profited by these. The new art, which
borrowed the forms and the setting of
antiquity, was animated by a very dif
ferent spirit, a spirit modified by ten
centuries of Christianity. Humanity
no more repeats its past than a river
flows back to its source; what we
take sometimes for resurrections are
syntheses. The first period of Renaissance
architecture in Italy may be charac
terised as the attempted fusion of the
forms of the Middle Ages and those of
antiquity. Novelty is less apparent
at first in the conception of buildings
than in their decorations, in which
Grasco-Roman motives play a part.
For the first time since the fall of the
Empire, civil architecture becomes

more imposing than religious architec
ture. This was a consequence of the
progress of the secular spirit. The
type of the new art is the Florentine
palace, a massive structure built round
a quadrangular court with a columned
portico (Figs. 188, 189). The exterior
still preserves the character of the
mediasval fortresses, in which solid
surfaces occupy far more space than
apertures. It is in the interior, with
its arcades, its rows of columns, the
decoration of its pilasters and vaults
that the imitation of antique models
manifests itself (Figs. 190, 191).
Some of this decoration, no longer
realistic but fantastic, was inspired by
that of the Roman tombs lately exca
vated, and known as grottoes; hence
the term grotesque, which, in its orig
inal sense, implies no sort of censure
or ridicule.
The Renaissance church differs from
the Gothic church, mainly in that
it is generally crowned by a cupola
square on plan; clustered columns are
replaced by pillars, the vault on inter-

FIG. IOO. — GROTESQUE DECORATION BY
PERUGINO.
In the Cambio at Perugia.

secting arches by a barrel vault or a
horizontal coffered ceiling; on the
exterior we find columns, pediments,

117

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

and niches, all the various elements of
Roman art.
The Florentine Brunellesco (1377-
1466) was the initiator of the
first Renaissance. From
1420 to 1434 he raised the
dome of the Cathedral of
Florence (Fig. 192) to a
height of about 330 feet.
This Romanesque building
was begun in 1274 by Arnolfo
di Cambio, and continued
after 1357 by Francesco
Talenti on a modified plan.
It was also Talenti, who, in
1358, finished the beautiful Gothic
campanile, begun under Giotto's direc-

Classic influences are more apparent
in the Riccardi Palace, the work of
Michelozzo about 1430 (Fig. 188), and

FIG. 192. — THE DUOMO, FLORENCE.
tion, and from his plan (1334-1336).
About the year 1445, Brunellesco be
gan the Pitti Palace at Florence. It
is a building characterised by a severe
beauty, due mainly to the clarity of
the design and the perfection of the
proportions1 (Fig. 193).
1 The greater part of the Pitti Palace was
built by Ammanati about 1568.

;. 191. — FRAGMENT OF SCULPTURED FRIEZE.
Ducal Palace, Urbino.
in the Strozzi Palace, Florence, built
about 1489 by Benedetto da Maj ano
and Cronaca. It is surmounted by an
attic or cornice inspired by the best
Roman models and justly celebrated.
As in the Pitti Palace, the facing
stones are rough hewn; this manner
of dressing them, known as rustica,
which is adopted in many Florentine
buildings, emphasises the projections
of the stones, and induces a rich play
of light and shade on the facade.
The marvellous facade of the Certosa
at Pavia (Fig. 195) was built in 1491,
two years later than the Strozzi Palace.
Here decoration abounds, infinitely
rich and varied; if it borrows elements
from antique art, it lavishes them with
truly Gothic exuberance. The archi
tectural lines 'disappear under the pro
fusion of statues and reliefs. This

FIG. 193. — VIEW OF THE PITTI PALACE, FLORENCE.

118

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

peculiarity makes it a type of the
transition from the ogival churches to
A-^_  _^_^_

Hw

¦ ¦¦¦'

-.-.. •- \h"- - '' ¦-, A

If Bil . W

FIG. 194. — VENDRAMINI PALACE, VENICE.
Built by P. Lombardo, 1481.
those in which the Roman constructive
elements predominate.
The centre of true Renaissance
architecture, characterised by the con
structive, non-decorative use of col
umns and pilasters was, not Florence
but Rome, where the monuments of
antiquity furnished models. It began
with Bramante of Urbino (1444-1514),
the director of the first works under
taken at St. Peter's (Fig. 196). His
influence was principally exercised
to restrain parasitical decoration and
emphasise the structure of a build
ing; this formula has become the
law of modern architecture. Perhaps
the most gifted of his successors was
Andrea Palladio, who worked at Ven

ice (1518-1580). A characteristic work
by him is the Church of the Redentore
in that city. As an example of a palace
built in this second phase of the Renais
sance, we may cite the beautiful
Library of St. Mark at Venice (Fig.
197), the work of Jacopo Tatti, called
Sansovino (1477-1570), with its Doric
ground floor, its Ionic first floor, its
graceful frieze and balustrade enriched
with statues.
The third period was entirely domi
nated by the influence of Michelangelo
(1475-1564), especially from about the
year 1550 onwards. This redoubtable
genius imposed picturesque elements

4M

¦FACADE OF THE CERTOSA, PAVIA,

FIG. 196. — BRAMANTE'S DESIGN FOR ST. PETER'S,
ROME.

and individual fancies upon archi
tecture. He continued, but did not
finish, the enormous Church of St.
Peter, the plans of which had already
been modified by several architects,
Raphael among the number. After
the death of Michelangelo, the huge
cupola, some 430 feet high, was fin
ished from his designs; but the fagade
was spoilt in the seventeenth cen
tury by Maderna, and more espe
cially by Bernini, the author of two
lateral towers by no means pleasing
in their effect. To Bernini, never
theless, we owe the double colon
nade, which gives the whole Piazza

119

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE : AGES

the appearance of a vast vestibule
before the church (Fig. 198). The
interior, completed in the seventeenth
century, is grandiose and splendid to
a degree, in spite of the occasional
over -exuberance of the decoration
(Fig. 199); the exterior can only be
appreciated from a distance, and has
an illusory effect
upon the visitor
when viewed from
the Piazza. It is
the largest church
ever built, cover
ing a superficies
of 21,000 square
metres, while Mi
lan Cathedral and
St. Paul's in Lon
don occupy only
11,000, St. Sophia,
10,000, and Co
logne Cathedral
7000. But true
greatness, as has
often been said, is
a result rather of
proportion t h a n
dimension, and
St. Peter's, the
work of various
architects and of
two centuries, is not a well-propor
tioned building.
The example of Michelangelo in
spired a taste for the colossal and a
straining after effect, to the detriment
of simplicity and good taste. His
disciples have left many powerful and
original works, which are marred by
too great an exuberance of fancy.
This tendency developed, at the close
of the sixteenth century, into the style
known as Baroque, from the name
given by the Portuguese to irregularly

FIG. I97.  LIBRARY OF
ST. MARK, VENICE.

FIG. 198. — VIEW OF ST. PETER'S, ROME.
With Bernini's Colonnade.
shaped pearls (barocco). It is a kind
of degenerescent Renaissance art,
allied by its defects to the Flamboyant
Gothic of the fifteenth century, its
most pronounced characteristic being
the preference of the curved to the
straight line. In the interior of the
churches of this period the so-called
Jesuit style held sway; it aimed at
dazzling the eye by wealth and variety
of motive, without regard to the
true function of ornament, which is
to emphasise form. This was the
period of decoration treated as an
end in itself, introduced everywhere
and in the most contradictory fashion,

FIG. 199. — INTERIOR OF ST. PETER'S, ROME.
(Photo, by Alinari, Florence.)

120

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 200. — HOUSE AT HILDESHEIM, HANOVER.
resulting in feverish visions of tor
tured lines and unexpected reliefs.
The genius of the Renaissance suc
cumbed at last in thie decorative orgy,
though down to the end of the eigh
teenth century it never ceased to pro
duce buildings remarkable for their
boldness or their elegance. As an ex
ample of the latter, we may mention
the Palazzo Pesaro or Bevilacqua at
Venice, where, in spite of the profu
sion of useless ornament, the eye is
charmed by the nobility of the pro
portions and the playful fancy of the
decorations (about 1650).

Just as Gothic architecture took but
a feeble hold of Italy, so that of the
Renaissance was not readily accepted
by the northern nations. In France,
as in Germany, it was introduced by
princes and nobles; it was used for
country houses and palaces long before
it was adopted for churches. When at
length it gained ground in these
countries, the Italian Renaissance took
on an individual character, a savour
of the soil; the French and German
architects emulated the Italians; they
did not imitate them.
Many French buildings of the first
half of the sixteenth century, formerly
attributed to Italian artists, are, as
documents in the archives have shown,
the work of French architects. Among

-CHATEAU OF CHENONCEAUX.
Touraine.

FIG. 202. — CHATEAU OF CHAMBORD.
Touraine.
these was Pierre Chambiges, who built
a part of the palace of Fontaine
bleau, and of the castles of St. Ger
main and Chantilly, and probably of
the Hotel de Ville of Paris, begun by
Domenico da Cortona, called II Boc-
cador, on a plan that was abandoned
in I53S-
The oldest monuments of the French
Renaissance are the country mansions
built in the valley of the Loire during
the reign of Francis I. They retain
the high sloping roof, the towers, tur-

121

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

rets, and spiral staircases of the Mid
dle Ages; it is only in the decoration,

FIG. 203.- — STAIRCASE IN THE CASTLE OF BLOIS.
especially that of the pilasters, that
Italian influences are revealed.
In Germany, the resistance offered
by national art was even more deter
mined. Towns like Nuremburg, Hil
desheim, and Augsburg still preserve
the high gabled houses which per
petuate the tradition of the Middle
Ages, side by side with their Ital
ianised churches and palaces (Fig.
200). We need go no further than Paris
to study the beautiful gate of the
Chateau de Gaillon (1502-1510) built
by the Cardinal d'Amboise, and now
erected in the courtyard of the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts. A bolder example of
the style is Chenonceaux on the Cher
(1512-1523), a well preserved building,
in which Gothic forms are everywhere
perceptible, under the veil of Renais
sance decoration (Fig. 201). The
masterpiece of this style is Cham-
bord, the work of Pierre Trinqueau
(c. 1523), with its forest of chimneys
and gables, a fairy apparition rising
in the midst of a desolate sandy

plain (Fig. 202). But if we examine
it closely, we are struck by the in
congruities of construction: a Gothic
roof, a Renaissance main building,
and massive Romanesque towers. The
older parts of the Castle of Blois
(1516 and after) abound in charm
ing Renaissance details, still allied to
Gothic elements (Fig. 203). The
Castle of Fontainebleau is more severe
in style, even a trifle wearisome; the
most severe of all the Francis I. castles
is that of St. Germain, where the
austerity of the fagade and the flat
roof recall the Florentine palaces of
the early Renaissance (Fig. 204).
The hybrid union of Gothic and
Renaissance is also found in several
of the churches of this period, as,
for instance, in St. Etienne du Mont
(1517-1541) and St. Eustache (1532)
in Paris. Towards 1540 a purifi
cation of style took place. Pierre
Lescot, who worked at the Louvre
from the year 1546, Jean Bullant
(ISIS-iS78), who built Ecouen and
began the Tuileries, completed by
Philibert Delorme, were thoroughly
saturated with the spirit of the Italian

FIG. 204.-

-CASTLE OF SAINT GERMAIN-EN-LAYE.
(Restored.)

Renaissance, but they also developed
a decorative and picturesque talent

122

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

which presaged the French art of the
eighteenth century.
Even in this rapid sketch I cannot
refrain from a passing reference to the
Castle of Heidelberg (1545-1607), the
masterpiece of the German Renais
sance, a work which, while Italian in
decoration, remains profoundly Gothic
in sentiment (Figs. 205, 206).
An interesting phenomenon in the
history of architecture is the period of

miseries wrought by the religious
wars; but in its clarity and quiet
dignity it realised the classic ideal of
Malherbe, the literary reformer of the
age. The masterpiece of French Renais
sance architecture, and perhaps of all
modern architecture, is the Louvre. Of
the thousands who have seen it, but
few know it, for its different portions
date from various periods, and it re-

FIG. 20S- — CASTLE OF HEIDELBERG.
Part built by the Elector-Palatine, Otto
Henry (1556-1559)-

FIG. 206. — CASTLE OF HEIDELBERG.
Part built by the Elector-Palatine,
Frederick IV. (1601-1607).

simplicity it entered upon in France
between 1580 and 1650. The combina
tion of stone and brick gave an air of
gaiety to the fagades of buildings, .
while at the same time the suppression
of mouldings and superfluous orna
ment diminished the cost of labour.

quires careful scrutiny to grasp the
distinctive characteristics.
The Louvre is bounded on the north
by the Rue de Rivoli, on the east by
the Rue du Louvre, on the south by
the quay, on the west by the Rue des
Tuileries. We will begin with the

This style, applied to the houses of #north-west. From the Pavilion de

the Place des Vosges, Paris, and to
the nucleus of the Castle of Versailles,
under Louis XIII., owed its accept
ance to economical exigencies, when
France was still suffering from the

Marsan, built under Louis XIV., to the
angle of the courtyard of the Louvre,
the whole was built by Napoleon I.,
Louis XVIII. and Napoleon III.,
whose architects were Percier, Fon-

123

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

taine, Visconti, and Lefuel. The build
ings that enclose the courtyard of the
Louvre date from the reign of
Louis XIV. (1660-1670), with the
exception of the south-west angle,
begun under Henri II. which is by
Pierre Lescot (1546-1578), and
the rest of the west side, including
the Pavilion de Sully or de l'Hor-
loge, built in the reign of Louis
XIII. On the quay, as far as the
gateway of the Carrousel, the
buildings date from the time of
Catherine de' Medici (1566-1578).
The rest of the Louvre on the riv
erside was constructed by Ducer-
ceau under Henri IV., but was
restored by Lefuel under Napo
leon III. (1863-1868).
The part of the Louvre courtyard
which we owe to Lescot (south-west),
struck the note that was taken up by
his successors, and it is not too much
to say that this courtyard affords the
most admirable view of a palace in ex
istence (Fig. 207). On the outside, facing
the Rue du Louvre, Louis XIV. corn-

columns (Fig. 208), which gives the
measure of the distance between the art

FIG. 208. — COLONNADE OF THE LOUVRE.
missioned Claude Perrault to build a
long monotonous fagade with double

FIG. 207. — COURTYARD OF THE LOUVRE, WEST FRONT.

of the French Renaissance and that
of the age of Louis XIV.
Even the exquisite grace of a Lescot
seemed frivolous to that age ; its
artists no longer sought inspiration in
the Italy of the sixteenth century,
but found their models in imperial
Rome. The style then adopted is
known as the academic style, because it
was enforced mainly by the acade
mies of sculpture, painting, and
architecture founded by Mazarin
(1648), and by Colbert (1671).
Perrault's colonnade and the fagade
of the Palace of Versailles, com
pleted by Jules Hardouin Mansard
(1646-1708), are memorable ex
amples of this sad, solemn, and
lofty style, in which symmetry is
the supreme law, and every pictur
esque and unexpected element is
banished. Mansard's best wo'rk is
the dome of the Invalides (1675-
1706), the silhouette of which, at
once elegant and majestic (Fig.
is much finer than that of

209),
the Pantheon, by Soufflot (1757-1784).

124

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

The imposing fagade of St. Sulpice
(i733) (Fig. 210) is the work of an
Italian architect, Servandoni. The

FIG. 209. — THE DOME OF THE INVALIDES, PARIS.
two Garde Meubles, on the Place de
la Concorde, akin to Perrault's colon
nade, but greatly superior to it, are
due to Gabriel, the best architect of
the time of Louis XV. These fine
buildings have one very unsuitable

FIG. 2IO. — THE PANTHEON, PARIS.
feature, the flat Italian roofs, so ill-
adapted to the climate of Paris. As

it is absolutely necessary to warm
them, the roofs have been crowned by
a forest of chimney-pots, which pro
duce a somewhat grotesque effect.
Gothic architecture endured longer
in England than elsewhere, and took a
new lease of life under the name of
Tudor style (1485-1558). To this tran
sitional style belong the Royal Chapels,
St. George's at Windsor and Henry
VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey
(Fig. 211), with their unique system of
fan-vaulting. Hampton Court Palace
is a charming example of the Tudor

FIG. 211. — HENRY VII. S CHAPEL.
Westminster Abbey.
(Photo, by Spooner.)
style as applied to domestic architec
ture. Renaissance architecture only
flourished in the time of Charles I.,
when it was represented principally
by Inigo Jones (1572-1662), the
author of the beautiful Banqueting
Hall of Whitehall, London (Fig.
212), and by Christopher Wren
(1632-1723), the architect of the vast
church of St. Paul's, a building in-

I25

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

spired by St. Peter's at Rome, though
not copied from it (Fig. 213).

-BANQUETING HALL, WHITEHALL,
LONDON.
(Photo, by Spooner.)

The delightful art of the eighteenth
century showed its influence in archi
tecture only in little sylvan build
ings and in interiors. The origin
of the style known as Rocco is
probably to be found in the ornamenta
tion of woodwork, which passed from
furniture to rooms. Pilasters, colon
nades, and flat mouldings, disappear,
and are replaced by garlands, festoons,

FIG. 213. — ST. PAULS CATHEDRAL, LONDON.
shells, a profusion of sinuous lines
entwining and interlacing; every de

tail of ornament aims at coming as
a surprise to the spectator. With all
this we find an exquisite sense of
proportion, and marvellous dexterity
of execution (Fig. 214).
At the outset of Louis XVI.'s reign
a reaction, which had been in process
o f preparation
from about the
year 1760, de
clared itself;
this was the re
vival of the Aca
demic Style, im
properly called
the Empire
Style, because it
reached its apo
gee under Napo
leon I. Here
again, it was not
the Italy of the
Renaissancewhich gave the
example ; the
antique was the
avowed source
o f inspiration,
and architects
even ventured to
set up in Paris
copies of Roman
as the Madeleine
the triumphal arches of the Carrousel
and of the Etoile (Fig. 215), and
the Vendome column. One general
even proposed, about the year 1798,
to bring the Trajan column to
Paris. These were errors of taste
that had never been committed
¦during the Renaissance. The qualities
of the Empire style are purely execu
tive; invention and sentiment have no
part in them. Under the Restoration
and the July Monarchy, these qualities

FIG. 214. — DECORATIVE
PANEL IN THE CHATEAU
OF VERSAILLES.

monuments, such
(begun in 1764),

126

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

were lost, and no compensating origi
nality replaced them. Happily, this

FIG. 215. — ARC DE TRIOMPHE DE L'ETOILE, PARIS.
disastrous mania for the imitation of
the antique was tempered in certain
artists— notably Duban, the author of
the Ecole des Beaux Arts, completed
about i860 — by a delicate feeling for
detail derived from the direct study of
Greek monuments, and by a return to
the severe elegance of great Floren
tines such as Brunellesco and
Bramante (Fig. 216).
At the same time, Viollet-le-
Duc, a learned writer of the
highest order, who was also a
distinguished architect, boldly
enounced the programme of a
new architecture, emancipated
from the exclusive cult of past
styles, and seeking its way in the
rational satisfaction of modern
wants. He foretold the advent of
construction in iron, and its pro
motion from the domain of indus
try to that of art. Labrouste, in
the Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve, and
the Reading Room of the Bibliotheque
Nationale (1859), and Due, in the Salle

des Pas Perdus of the Palais de Jus
tice, admirable constructions well suited
to their respective uses, seem to
have been inspired by these ideas,
which did not reach full fruition
till much later.
The close of the Second Em
pire witnessed a revival of Italian
architecture, especially the Vene
tian architecture of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, t o
which are due Ballu's Church of
La Trinite and Garnier's Grand
Opera House (Fig. 217). This ten
dency still persists, modified by
a rather more severe taste. The
last important buildings erected
in Paris, the Grand Palais and
the Petit Palais (Fig. 218), are
Renaissance buildings, in which the
decorative elements are borrowed from
antiquity, but which are no mere copies
of Greek or Roman monuments. On
the other hand, works of metallic archi
tecture, which have multiplied rapidly
since 1878, mark a more or less delib
erate reaction against the traditional

FIG. 216. — COURTYARD OF THE ECOLE DES BEAUX ARTS, PARIS.

art of the schools. Engineering feats,
like the Tour Eiffel and the Palais des
Machines, with their soaring vertical

127

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

lines, the marked predominance of
empty spaces over solid surfaces, and
the lightness of their frankly displayed
framework, are much more closely
akin to the conceptions of Gothic
architecture, a renaissance of which,
in different materials, and governed
by a secular spirit, is quite among the
possibilities of the future.
The examples I have given here
are mainly French. I have chosen
these as conveniently typical, and not
because other countries have not also
produced notable monuments. In the
case of these I can only indicate
the filiation of styles. The German
Renaissance, interrupted by the Thir
ty Years' War, was followed by the
imitation of French and Italian styles,
by the Academic, the Baroque, and
the Rococo styles. The finest example
of the Baroque style in Germany is the
Pavilion of the Zwinger (bastion) at
Dresden (Fig. 219), the work of Pop-
pelmann (1715). In the nineteenth
century, Schinkel and Klenze may be
cited as the protagonists of the dom
inant neo-Greek style, frigid as are all

&C'*'Js -7^;V
.•Avnj Aim*

a*W.

l,HW««M>lft^ai!

%$M

f-AA'-A '" ''A -:>AK.V \---
,.'.A_jk/i

^^A

FIG. 218. — THE PETIT PALAIS, PARIS.
imitations, wearisome as are all anach
ronisms. Meanwhile, in Southern Ger
many and at Vienna, a new evolution in

the direction of the Italian Renaissance
took place. It is to this movement that
Vienna owes her fine modern buildings,

|ilii:i.iii!;ii

A

FIG. 217. — FACADE OF THE OPERA HOUSE, PARIS.
the University, the Parliament House,
and the two Imperial Museums (by
Semper and Hasenauer, Fig. 220).
In England, the neo-Greek style fol
lowed closely upon the Renaissance;
the Baroque and Rococo styles were
hardly known there. Then, as if by
way to return to the national style,
there was a recrudescence of perpen
dicular Gothic, the most import
ant example of which is the
Houses of Parliament (Fig. 220),
built by Barry on the banks of
the Thames (1840-1860). Final
ly, in the nineteenth century Bel
gium raised the most huge
accumulation of freestone in
MSI Europe, the Palais de Justice at
3|«|! Brussels, in style a conglomer-
J ation of Assyrian and Renais
sance influences, the effect of
which is by no means proportion
ate to the vast expense and la
bour involved.
Nevertheless, in England and Bel
gium, there has sprung up within the

128

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

last few years a new style, which seems
destined to put an end to the imitation

FIG. 219. — PAVILION OF THE ZWINGER.
(Dresden.)
L'ubke, Archilektur (Seemann, Leipzig).
of antique and Renaissance models in
our day, even more effectually than the
introduction of iron buildings. It was
in England, under the influence of the

FIG. 220. — NEW IMPERIAL MUSEUM.
(Vienna.)
VArt en Tableaux (Seemann, Leipzig).

assthetic writer, Ruskin, and of William
Morris, and other artists, seconded by
the painters, Burne-Jones and Walter
Crane, that the movement originated
which transformed the interiors of
houses, substituting for trite and con
ventional models in furniture, hang
ings, and applied ornaments, expressive
forms, or at least forms which
strive to be expressive. Then two
Belgian artists, Hankar and Horta,
ventured, towards the year 1893,
to apply equally bold principles to
external decoration, waging war upon
imitation and breaking with all tradi
tion. An Austrian, Otto Wagner, be
came acquainted with this Belgian

m

iA:--L~xS

l^'Hfr — F.

rjlU*-*S

:7~»s«B<*

k

FIG. 221. — HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, LONDON.
movement, and initiated a new school
of construction at Vienna, to which
the term " Secessionist '.' was applied,
a name which sufficiently indicates its
independent and even rebellious char
acter. From Vienna, the " heresy "
spread to Berlin, Darmstadt, and to
Paris, but so far, the new style has had
no opportunity of manifesting itself in
a public building. To define this new
Anglo-Austro-Belgian style would be
almost impossible, for it has no credo,
and seeks its way in very diverse
directions. But its existence is a well
established fact, which proclaims itself
129 K

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
in the disposition and arrangement of spite of individual aberrations, to the
private buildings. In its determin- great programme of good sense and.

FIG. 222. — PALAIS DE JUSTICE, BRUSSELS.

-VIEW OF THE ESCORIAL, NEAR MADRID,
Built from 1563 to 1584.

ation to belong to its own times, to good taste laid down about i860 by
reject anachronisms, it is related, in Viollet-le-Duc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XIV

W. Liibke, Geschichte der Architeklur, 6th ed., 2 vols., Leipzig, 1886; E. Miintz, His
toire de VArt pendant la Renaissance,^ vols., Paris, 1889-189 1; E. Haenel, Spdtgothik und
Renaissance, Stuttgart, 1899; J. Durm, Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Italien,
Stuttgart, 1903; A. G. Meyer, Oberitalienische Friihrenaissancc, Berlin, 1896; L. Palustre,
La Renaissance en France (Le Nord, 2 vols., Brclagne, 1 vol.), Paris, 1879-1888; V Archil.
de la Renaissance, Paris, no date ; W. Liibke, Geschichte der Renaissance in Frankreich (Archi-
lektur), Stuttgart, 1883; H. von Geymuller, Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Frankreich,
Stuttgart, 1901 ; M. Vachon, V Hotel de Ville de Paris (Chronique des Arts, 1903, p. 303) ; G.
von Bezold, Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Deulschland, Holland, Belgicn und Dane-
mark, Stuttgart, 1899; M. Reymond, Les Debuts de V Architecture de la Renaissance (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1900, i. , p. 89) ; A. Doren, Zum Bau der Tlorentiner Domkuppel (Repertorium,
1898, p. 249); C. von Fabriczy, VU. Brunelleschi, Stuttgart, 1892; L. Scott, Brunellesco,
London, 1902; Julia de Wolf Addison, The Art oj the Pitti Palace, Boston, 1903; Luca
Beltrami, Storia docum. della Certosa di Pavia. Milan, 1896; A. G. Meyer, Die Cerlosa bei
Pavia, Berlin, 1900; Aug. Schmarsow, Barok und Rokoko, Leipzig, 1896; Gust. Eve, Die
Schmuck formen der M onumentalbauten, VI. Spatrenaissance und Barockperiode, Berlin,
1896; A. Haupt, Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Portugal, 2 vols., Frankfort, 1894; M.
Rosenberg, Quellen zur Geschichte des Heidelberger Schlosses, Heidelberg, 1882; A. Haupt,
Zur Baugeschichte des Heidelberger Schlosses, Frankfort, J902.
C. Lemonnier, Philibert de Lorme (Revue de VArt, 1898, i., p. 123); Cede Clarac,
Le Louvre et les Tuileries (vol i. of the text of the Musee de Sculpture), Paris, 1841; A. Bar-
beau, Le Louvre, Paris, 1895; E. Bonnefon, ClatCde Perrault (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1901,
ii., p. 209); P. de Nolhac, Histoire du Chdteau de Versailles, Paris, 1899; La Creation de
Versailles (Revue de VArt, 1898, i., p. 399); Le Versailles de Mansart (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1902, i., p. 209) ; L. Courajod, Legons projesees a VEcole du Louvre, vol. iii., Paris,i9o,3
(Origines de VArt moderne, rococo, baroque, style jesuite, academisme) ; Lady E. Dilke, French
Architects and Sculptors oj the XVIIIth Century, London, 1900; F. Mazerolle, /. D.
Antoine, architecte de ja Monnaie (Reunion des Societes savantes des Beaux-Arts, 1897, p.
130

RENAISSANCE AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE
1038) ; R. Miles, Les Maisons de plaisance du XVIIIe siecle, Paris, 1900; C. Sedille, Charles
Gamier (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, ii., p. 341); O. P.eichelt, Das '/.-¦i-inger gebdude in
Dresden (Deutsche Bauzeitung, 1898, p. 410); H. Ziller, Schinkel, Bielefeld, 1896; L.
Gonse, Les Nouveaux Palais des Musics a Vienne (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1891, ii., p.
353); C Sedille, V Architecture moderne en Angleterre (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1886, i.,
p. 89); H. Fierens-Gevaert, Nouveaux Fssais sur VArt contemporain, Paris, 1903 (on the
new Austro-Belgian school, and kindred tendencies).

131

K 2

XV

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

The Renaissance in Italy no mere Revival of Classicism. — The First Renaissance the
Logical Development of Gothic Art. — The Apulian School of Sculptors. — Niccola
Pisano. — The Legend of Cimabue and Giotto a Myth. — Duccio of Siena, and his
School. — Giotto and his Frescoes at Assisi and Florence. — The Giotteschi. — Fra
Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli. — Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno. — ¦
Verrocchio, Sculptor and Painter. — Botticelli. — Ghirlandajo. — Filippino Lippi. —
Piero di Cosimo and Lorenzo di Credi. — Piero dei Franceschi and Luca Signorelli.
— The Character of Florentine Painting. — Florentine Sculpture. — Donatello, Ver
rocchio, Desiderio da Settignano. — Jacopo della Quercia. — Luca della Robbia. —
Andrea Sansovino. — Fifteenth Century Florence compared with, the Athens of Pericles.
— The Living, or Tactile Quality of the Highest Art.

The plastic and pictorial art of the
Renaissance is not to be defined as an
imitation of classic models. In Italy,
as in the north and east of France,
there was an initial Renaissance in
the fourteenth century, which owed
little, if anything, to antiquity. It was
the logical development of the great
Gothic style, passing gradually to
naturalism, from the art of the
imagiers under St. Louis, to that of
the portraitists of the time of Charles V.
Gothic naturalism found its way into

ired with t

FIG. 224. — THE CRUCIFIXION.
NICCOLA PISANO.
(Pulpit in the Baptistery at Pisa.)

FIG. 225. — THE NATIVITY.
NICCOLA PISANO.
(Pulpit in the Baptistery at Pisa/i
Italy, and awoke Italian realism,
which had been slumbering for a
century (cf. p. 83). But whereas in
France and Flanders, naturalism was
unbridled and soon degenerated into
triviality, in Italy, thanks to the dawn
of Humanism and the study of an
tique examples, it was chastened
and disciplined, and learned to desire
beauty even before expression. Thus
the part played by antiquity was that
of a teacher, not of a mother; it

132

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

FIG. 226. — CHRIST BEFORE PILATE.
DUCCIO.
(Siena Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Lombardi.)
regulated, but it did not create the
Renaissance. One art does not act upon another
by mere propinquity. Before any
such action takes place, the second
must have reached a point in its
natural evolution, at which it is
peculiarly sensitive to the first. From
the fifth to the fifteenth century it
never occurred to the Italians to imitate
their antique buildings ; they used
them merely as quarries. A barbaric
Rome rose side by side with imperial
Rome. About the year 1240, a school
of sculptors and engravers, who took
as their models the busts and coins

FIG. 227. — HEROD'S FEAST.
GIOTTO.
(Church of S. Croce, Florence.)

of the Roman Empire, rose in Apulia,
under the fostering guidance of the
Emperor Frederick II. This school
lasted barely forty years. Nicholas
of Apulia, an artist who had worked
for Frederick, and who was after
wards more famous as Niccola Pisano,
came to Pisa, and there, in 1260,
carved the pulpit of the Baptistery,
a work which, while Gothic in form,
is decorated with bas-reliefs so skilfully
imitated from those on Roman sarco-

FIG. 228. — THE ANNUNCIATION.
FRA ANGELICO.
(Baptistery of Cortona.)
phagi that they might easily be
mistaken for antiques (Figs. 224 and
225). This astounding resurrection
of the antique ideal is an isolated
phenomenon, and bore no fruit.
Niccola's own son, Giovanni Pisano,
was a pure realist of the Gothic
school, who probably drew his in
spiration from French and Rhenish
sources. Before Italy became sus
ceptible to the teachings of her Roman
past, she had to pass through a Gothic
period, of which the first Renaissance,

133

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 229. — THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
.FRA ANGELICO.
(The Louvre.)
made memorable by Giotto and
Duccio, marks, not the close, but the
apogee. Indeed, the Gothic spirit,
modified by the influences of Flanders
and the valley of the Rhine, did not
die out in Italy till the sixteenth
century. It was only then that
Grasco- Roman aesthetics definitely
prevailed, and inaugurated the pro
pagandist movement which has assured

FIG. 230. — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
BENOZZO GOZZOLI.
(Palazzo Riccardi, Florence.)

its domination
times.1 In the
century it
Florence

down to our own

middle of the sixteenth
was generally believed in
that certain Byzantine
painters, who had been summoned to
the town about the year 1260, awakened
the latent talent of Cimabue, and that
this artist was the first Italian painter,
just as Adam was the first man. The
legend went on to tell how Cimabue,
in his turn, discovered the genius of
the shepherd, Giotto, by seeing him
draw the outline of a sheep on the
rock with a sharp stone. These tales
are mere fables. Cimabue was a
worker in mosaic ; no authenticated

I! -.V- ' ¦'
; : ; ¦

. 1

i ' 11

§

1 V
- ¦ ..-

FIG. 231. — THE MEDICI WATCHING THE BUILDING
OF THE TOWER OF BABEL.
BENOZZO GOZZOLI.
(Fresco in the Campo Santo, Pisa.)
pictures by him are known to us.
Siena, the rival city of Florence,
produced the first Italian painter of
genius, Duccio, who had evidently
seen and studied the Byzantine
paintings and enamels (1282-1320).
Duccio combined with a sense of
grandiose composition, a broad, if as
yet not very delicate, feeling for line
1 These ideas, which I have summed up
in a few lines, were formulated by Leon de
Laborde in 1849, and further developed by
Courajod in 1890.

134

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

(Fig. 226). He was the first to translate
into true pictures, that is to say, expres
sive groupings of figures, the painted
chronicles of the Middle Ages, which
pious souls had spelt out for centuries
as a kind of Bible for the unlettered.
Duccio was the progenitor of a
numerous family of painters at Siena,
among them Simone Martini, called
Memmi, the Lorenzetti, and Taddeo
Gaddi, who, though they did not equal

FIG. 232. — SS. PETER AND JOHN GIVING ALMS.
MASACCIO.
(Church of the Carmine, Florence.)
the Florentines in power, surpassed
them perhaps in passion, poetry, and
tenderness. A little Sienese picture
of the highest quality is a feast for the
eyes; but works of the first rank are
rare in this school, which produced
too quickly and too abundantly. The
weakness of the Sienese school was
that it aimed rather at the portrayal of
expression and emotion than at per
fection of form. When once this
tendency is established, decadence
follows rapidly, for painters vie with
each other in the rendering of violent

FIG. 233. — PORTRAIT OF PIPPO SPANO.
ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO.
(Museum Florence.)
contrasts and cheap pathos. By the
beginning of the fifteenth century, the
vitality of the Sienese school was ex
hausted. Thenceforth, Florence, who
had learnt from her in the beginning,
sent artists to her.
The first of the great Florentine
painters was Giotto, who died in 1337.
Was he influenced by Duccio? It is
possible. But his great merit lies in
his having rejected the Byzantine
tradition, which continued to hold

FIG. 234. — THE LAST SUPPER.
ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO.
(Sant' Appollonia, Florence.)
Duccio in thrall. To understand
Giotto, and, indeed, nearly all the Itai-

135

THE STORY, OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 235. — MADONNA WITH TWO SAINTS.
VERROCCHIO AND LORENZO DI CREDI.
(Pistoia Cathedral.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)

ian masters, it is necessary to study his
frescoes ; but the excellent picture by
him in the Louvre, St. Francis receiving
the Stigmata, gives some faint idea of
his powers. Giotto's drawing is noi
always correct, his draperies are some
times heavy and his heads vulgar; but
with what clarity and poetry he ex
presses what he has to say! Giotto's
frescoes at Assisi, illustrating the life of
St. Francis, and those at Padua and
in the Church of Santa Croce at Flor
ence (Fig. 227) are among the most
charming achievements of painting,
although not one of the figures they
contain is above criticism.
Giotto was inspired by the Gothic
masters, notably by Giovanni Pisano,
(d. 1329), but above all, by Nature.
His disciples were nearly all merely
Giottesques, who escaped from the
salutary contact with realities.
Their very prolific school extended
throughout Italy. It produced many

ingenious and inventive illustrators,
such as the unknown painters of the
great frescoes in the Campo Santo of
Pisa; but, preoccupied above all
with narrative, they made no pro
gress towards greater purity and pre
cision of form. Giottism produced
but one great artist, the monk Fra
Angelico of Fiesole (1387-14SS), and
even he was influenced by Masaccio,
an uncompromising realist. Fra An
gelico was the painter par excellence
of Christianity as preached by St.
Francis of Assisi. The joys of belief,
the happiness of suffering for the faith,
the beatitude of the elect, have never
been more eloquently expressed than
by him. He was also, though this has
been often overlooked, a learned
painter, whose knowledge of the human
form was far greater than that of

FIG. 236. — FRAGMENT OF THE CORONATION OF
THE VIRGIN.
FILIPPO LD?PO.
(Florence.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
Giotto; but his mystic lyre had but
few chords. There is a certain insip-

136

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

idity in his genius, the reflection of a
somewhat purile soul, whose outlook
was bounded by the walls of a cloister.
His suave Virgins and angels delight
us' at first, and finally pall on us; we
long for a few wolves in this impeccable
sheepfold (Figs. 228-229). Fra An-
gelico's best pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli
(1420-1496) reveals himself as the
most exquisite and naive storyteller of
the Renaissance in his frescoes in the
Palazzo Riccardi at Florence, at San
Gimignano, at Montefalco in Umbria;
his visions of the world are the golden
dreams of a child (Figs. 230, 231).
But the world is not peopled by
children, nor can it live by golden
dreams alone.
Giottism would have dragged down
Florentine art to the puerility of
pietistic illustration, if the naturalism
so brilliantly vindicated by Donatello

FIG. 237. — VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH TWO ANGELS.
VERROCCHIO.
(National Gallery, London.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
in sculpture had not also found a
great pictorial interpreter in Masaccio

FIG. 238. — TOBIAS AND THE ANGEL.
A. POLLAIUOLO.
(Museum, Turin.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
(1401-1428). The Brancacci Chapel,
in the Church of the Carmine at
Florence, decorated by Masaccio with
frescoes, was a source of virile inspira
tion to all the Florentine artists of the
fifteenth century (Fig. 232). His con
temporaries, Paolo Uccello, the first
painter of battles and of perspective,
and Andrea del' Castagno, a master
of almost brutal vigour — influenced,
like himself, by Donatello — completed
the work begun by him and disgusted
the Florentines with insipidity (Figs.
233, 234). Fra Filippo Lippi, another
monk, but a monk who had not alto
gether broken with the world (1406-
1463), was, as it were, the synthesis of
Fra Angelico and Masaccio; strength
— still somewhat rugged in its vigoui
— is happily married to tenderness in
his best works, examples of which are
to be seen both in the National Gallery
of London and the Louvre (Fig. 236).
Verrocchio (1435-1488), who is best
known as a sculptor, proves himself

[37

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 239. — ALLEGORY OF SPRING.
BOTTICELLI.
(Academy, Florence.)
a master of line in his rare pictures
(Figs. 235, 237) ; he was, moreover,
the first of the Florentines to under
stand landscape, and the part played
therein not only by forms, but by light
and air. We must not, however,

FIG. 240. — MADONNA AND ANGELS.
BOTTICELLI.
Ambrosiana, Milan.
(Photo, by Alinari.)
forget that twenty years before the
birth of Verrocchio, the Van Eycks

had painted exquisite land
scapes in Flanders. Italian
art, as Courajod has well
said, was the favoured child,
but not the eldest son of the
Renaissance. Botticelli (1444-1510), a
somewhat younger master
than Verrocchio, was the
pupil of Fra Filippo, but,
like Verrocchio, he was
much influenced by the
realist, Antonio Pollaiuoli
(Fig. 238), a pupil of Dona
tello and of Uccello. He
was one of the most origi
nal of painters, a creative
genius, but fantastic, restless, and
vehement, an artist who, in his pas
sion for expressive line, often over
shot the mark, and became violent
rather than suggestive. The very
mixed pleasure caused by his works
is a kind of nervous vibration or
hyperassthesia. We have heard of

FIG. 241. — THE VISITATION.
u. GHIRLANDAJO.
(The Louvre.)
the " superman," a creation of the
disordered brain of Nietzsche; Botti
celli may be styled the " super-painter."
Without being a colourist, without
even desiring to be one, he succeeds

138

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

in emphasising the continuous
and contagious tremolo of his
line by colour. When he is at his
best, as in the Spring, at Flor
ence, he gives us the most per
fect expression of Humanism,
the very quintessence of Floren
tine distinction (Figs. 239, 240).
Botticelli has found his most
fervent adorers among the neu
rasthenic spirits of the close of
the nineteenth century. They
fall into ecstatic swoons (for this
is the fashion in which such
persons express admiration), as
they contemplate, not only his
defects, but those of his coarsest
imitators. To recognise the real
strength and the subtle vitality
of his art one must have the
equipment of a connoisseur.
Two painters of the most
amazing facility, ingenious,
graceful, and transparent, ad
mirably expressed the amiable
qualities of the High Renaissance in
Italy. The older of these, Domenico
Ghirlandajo (1449-1494) is a some
what suaver Verrocchio, whose large
religious compositions are enlivened by

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FIG. 242. — ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
D. GHIRLANDAJO.
(Church of the Innocents, Florence.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)

gay and transparent colour (Figs. 241-
243) . One of his masterpieces, the

FIG. 243. — THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
D. GHIRLANDAJO.
(Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.)

FIG. 244. — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
FILIFPFNO LIPPI.
(Uflizi, Florence.)

139

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 245. — THE VIRGIN APPEARING TO ST. BERNARD
FILIPPINO LIPPI.
(Church ol the Badia, Florence.)
IWoermann, Geschichte der Malerei, Seemann,
Leipzig.)
Visitation, is in the Louvre. The
younger artist, Filippino Lippi, is not
represented there, but may be studied
in two fine examples in the National

nu. 246.-

-THE VIRGIN ADORING THE INFANT
CHRIST.

SCHOOL OF FILIPPINO LIPPI.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)

Gallery. The son of Fra Filippo Lippi
and the pupil of Botticelli, he was to
his master what Ghirlandajo was to
Verrocchio. A gifted, but uninventive,
artist, he has, however, given several
exquisite works to painting, the best
of which is the Virgin appearing to
St. Bernard, in the Badia at Florence
(Figs. 244-246). To the same group of
artists belongs Piero di Cosimo, the
creator of charming idylls, an exquisite
portrait-painter, and a fellow-student

FIG. 247. — THE DREAM OF CONSTANTINE.
PIERO DEI FRANCESCHI.
(Church of S. Francesco, Arezzo.)
with Leonardo, though of inferior gifts ;
and also Lorenzo di Credi, whose large
picture, painted in collaboration with
his master, Verrocchio, adorns the
Cathedral of Pistoia (Fig. 23s).
The two giants of the Florentine
Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo, must be reserved for
special consideration. But there are
two masters, of Southern Tuscany and
the Romagna respectively, of whom
we must say a few words here : Piero

140

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

dei Franceschi and his
pupil, Luca Signorelli.
Piero (1416-1492),
cold and impersonal,
occupies a place apart
in Italian art ; there is
something spectral
and disquieting, to
gether with a touch
of melancholy disdain,
in his pale straight
figures. (Fig. 247).
Signorelli (1441-1525)
is the Dante of fif
teenth century paint
ing ; he, too, is sad,
and almost fierce in
his energy, even in the
rendering of his admi
rable Virgins with their
powerful chins, lofty foreheads, and
severe mouths. There is tenderness
under this mask of strength, but it con
ceals itself. His End of the World
(Fig. 250), in the Cathedral of Orvieto,
presages Michelangelo's Last Judg
ment in the Sistine Chapel. His
Education of Pan, in the Berlin
Museum, is a masterpiece of severe
and sculpturesque design (Fig. 248).
Thus we see that Florentine painting
moves Jjetween two extremes, mystic
suavity and melancholy power. It is
a perfect reflection of an agitated
society, fevered by luxury and enjoy
ment, and afire with civil discords, a
society in which the fanatical Christian
ity of a Savonarola jostled the almost
pagan Humanism of the Medicean
Court. Classic art gave it lessons in
design, and furnished it with examples
of the correct interpretation of forms,
but left it entirely untouched by its
spirit. All the roots of the Florentine
soul were deep-set in the Middle Ages ;

FIG. 248. — THE EDUCATION OE PAN.
LI7CA SIGNORELLI.
(Museum, Berlin.)
(Photo, by Haufstaengl.)
it was neither Greek nor Roman, be
cause it was still profoundly religious,
alternately illumined and obscured by
the radiant or terrible visions of an
other world.
Florentine sculpture began with
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1465), who

FIG. 249. — THE STORY OF ISAAC AND JACOB.
GHIBERTI.
(Second Door of the Baptistery, Florence.)

141

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

modelled the marvellous series of
scriptural bas-reliefs which decorate

FIG. 250. — THE DAMNED.
SIGNORELLI.
Fragment of Fresco at Orvieto.
(Photo, by Anderson.)
the two great bronze doors of the
Baptistery at Florence, between 1405
and 1452. Of the second, Michel
angelo said that it was worthy
to figure on the gates of Para
dise (Fig. 249). These bas-re
liefs are treated pictorially, with
planes in perspective, and the
more distant figures in lower
relief than the rest. Like Ma-
saccio's frescoes, they were a
source of inspiration to the
whole Florentine School.
At the same period, the great
Donatello (1386-1466) set the
example of a vivid naturalism
in his statues of saints, his por
traits, and his bas-reliefs, as
well as that of an exquisite
grace in the representation of
childhood (Figs. 251, 254).
Donatello's naturalism is seen

in the manner in which he gave life in
bronze or marble to models conforming
to the Florentine ideal, slender, mus
cular, energetic, and expressive from
head to foot. This ideal is almost the
antithesis of that classical antiquity,
but it is identical with that of modern
art, emancipated from academic bond
age. Rodin and Constantin Meunier
are the heirs of Donatello, who is
himself much more akin to the Gothic
masters than to the Greeks.
One of Donatello's pupils, Verrocchio
(1435-1485), was both painter and
sculptor. The master of Leonardo da
Vinci, of Lorenzo di Credi, and many
others, he created the most beautiful
equestrian figure of the Renaissance,
the statue of the condottiere Colleone at
Venice (1479) (Fig. 255).
Another pupil of Donatello's, De-
siderio da Settignano (Fig. 256), who
died young, in 1464., was the leader of a
fascinating group of workers in marble,
suaver and more idealistic in manner

FIG. 251. — DAVID.
DONATELLO. (Florence.)

FIG. 252. — ST. JOHN.
DONATELLO.
(Duomo, Florence.)

142

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

than Donatello, who has left us heads of
the Virgin, and portraits of women and

who worked at Florence and at Rome,
was the artist who perhaps gave most

EIG. 253. — BUST OF NICCOLO DA UZZANO (?).
DONATELLO.
(Museum, Florence.)
children, marked by a sweetness veiled
with sadness, and touched by a senti
ment quite unknown to antique art.
To this group belong Mino da Fiesole
(d. 1484), Antonio Rossellino (d. 1478),
and Benedetto da Majano (d. 1497).
They were chiefly employed on por
traits, votive bas-reliefs, altars, and
tombs in churches (Figs. 257-259).
Jacopo della Quercia of Siena, con
temporary with Donatello, was Michel
angelo's exemplar. A powerful and
original sculptor, he was certainly
influenced by Flemish and Burgundian
realism. The delightful artist, Luca
della Rohbia, whose glazed polychrome
bas-reliefs afforded one of the sources
of Raphael's inspiration, worked at
Florence itself; other members of his
family, Giovanni and Andrea, car
ried on the manufacture of these
glazed terra cottas till about the year
1530. Andrea Sansovino (1460-1529),

FIG. 254. — YOUTHFUL ST. JOHN.
DONATELLO.
(Museum, Florence.)
perfect expression to the sculptural
genius of the Renaissance, because,
like Raphael in painting, he was able

FIG. 255. — EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF
VERROCCHIO. (Venice.)

143

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 256. — MADONNA AND CHILD.
DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO.
(Florence.)
to reconcile the classic and the Chris
tian spirit (Figs. 263, 264).
Nearly all the great works of the
Florentine sculptors have remained in
their native land, whereas those of
the painters have migrated to the
museums of other countries in large
numbers. Hence it is that the former

are less widely known, though they
are no less worthy of fame. Even had
the painting of the fifteenth century
disappeared like Greek painting, the
whole genius of the Renaissance would
still survive in the works of the great
Florentine sculptors.
But what a difference there is be
tween Florence, the Athens of the
fifteenth century, and the Athens of
Pericles ! At Florence there is no

FIG. 257. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
MINO DA FIESOLE.

FIG. 258. — THE NATIVITY.
A. ROSSELLINO.
(Church of Monte Oliveto, Naples.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)
serenity, nothing which attests a happy
equilibrium between the faculties of
the mind and the feelings; now we
have an agitated, poignant, almost
painful realism, now a languorous
grace, melancholy even in the render
ing of joy. For between Athens and
Florence stood Christianity, a purely
spiritual religion, which defies suffer
ing and anathematises the flesh. After
the dry, dogmatic phase which ended
in the thirteenth century, Christianity
became, thanks mainly to St. Francis

144

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

of Assisi (d. 1226), a religion of mystic
tenderness and fervid asceticism. In
an estimate of the art of the High
Renaissance, it is impossible to over
state the importance of the moral
revolution accomplished by the dis
ciples of St. Francis.
The dominant quality of Florentine
sculpture, a quality to be recognised
also, though less definitely, in the
painting, is the delicate firmness of

FIG. 259.  THE ANNUNCIATION.
BENEDETTO DA MAJANO.
(Church of Monte Oliveto, Naples.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)
the lines, a something we might call
their quality. Why is it that the copy
of a masterpiece is rarely itself a
masterpiece? It is because the personal
sentiment of a great artist manifests
itself not only in the invention and
disposition of the figures, but in the
infinitely subtle shades of form which
¦ escape the attention of a copyist. A
very just distinction has been drawn
between living lines and surfaces, and
dead lines and surfaces. The first only
have what a contemporary critic, Mr.

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'i'i

FIC. 260. — ADAM AND EVE.
JACOPO DELLA QUERCIA.
(Church of San Petronio, Bologna.)
Berenson, calls tactile values, that is
to say, the almost imperceptible quiver
of life, the effect of which on the eye
is analogous to that of living flesh
against the finger-tips. An artist of
genius has the faculty of infusing life
into each sinuosity of contour, each
square inch of surface. In a work
of art the presence of dead lines
FIG. 261. — THE MADONNA WITH TWO SAINTS.
LUCA DELLA ROBBIA.
(Cathedral,' Prato.)
and surfaces, that is to say, of flat or
rounded surfaces, insignificant and
145
THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

void of expression, suffice to show that
it is either a copy, or the work of
a mediocre artist. In this connection
there is nothing more instructive than
such a comparison as may be made in

FIG. 262. — THE VISITATION.
ANDREA DELLA ROBBIA.
(Church of San Giovanni, Pistoja.)
the Louvre between one of Michel
angelo's Slaves, in which every inch
of the marble seems to vibrate, and a
statue of Canova's or Pradier's, where

the grace of the general effect, that is
to say, of the silhouette, does not atone
for the coldness of the modelling, the
facile and flaccid execution.

FIG. 263. — BACCHUS.
ANDREA SANSOVINO.
(Museum, Florence.)
The ancients were well aware that
this faint quiver of life is the supreme
quality of a masterpiece : spirantia
mollins aera, said Virgil.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XV.

Work by X. Kraus, given p. 92. — L. Courajod, Legons projessees a VEcole du Louvre,
vol. ii., Paris, 1901 (the origin of the Renaissance; cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1888, i.,
p. 21); E. Miintz, Histoire de VArt pendant la Renaissance en Italie, 3 vols., Paris, 1889-
1895; J. Burckhardt, Der Cicerone, 8th ed. by Bode, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1901; Die Cullur
der Renaissance in Italien, 8th ed. by Geiger, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1901 ; L. Pastor, Geschichte der
Pdpste, 4th ed., vol. i.-iii., Friburg, 1900 (period of the Renaissance); E. Miintz, Les Pre-
curseurs de la Renaissance, Paris, 1882 (an Italian edition with considerable additions,
Florence, 1902); H. Wolfflin, Die klassische Kunst, Einfuhrung in die italienische Renais
sance, Munich, 1901 (evolutionist). English edition, called The Art oj the Italian Renais
sance, London, 1903.
J. Crowe and G. Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in. Italy, 3 vols., 1864-66.;
Wcermann and Woltmann, Geschichte der Malerei, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1870-1888; English
transl. ed. by S. Colvin, London, 1880: J. Lermolieff (pseudonym Morelli), Kunstkritische
146

THE RENAISSANCE AT SIENA AND FLORENCE

Studien iiber italienische Malerei, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1890-1893 (English transl.); B. Beren-
son, The Study and Criticism oj Italian Art, vol. ii., London, 1902 (with an exposition of
the Morellian method1); G. Lafenestre, La Peinture italienne jusqu'a la fin du XVe siecle
Paris, 1900; H. Thode, Franz von Assisi und die Anfange der Kunst in Italien, Berlin, 1903.
W. Liibke, Geschichte der Plastik, 3rd ed., 2 vols., Leipzig, 1880; Ch. Perkins, Italian
Sculptors; W. Bode, Die italienische Plastik, 3rd cd., Berlin, 1902; L. F. Freeman, Italian
Sculptors of the Renaissance, London, 1902.
Apulian origin of Niccola Pisano: Polaczek, Repertorium fiir Kunstivissenschaft, 1903,
p. 361; E. Bertaux, VArt dans Vltalie merid., Paris, 1903, vol. i., p. 787.
L. Douglas, A History of Siena, London, 1902; W. Heywood and Lucy Olcott, A
Guide to Siena (History and Art), Siena, 1903; S. Borghesi and L. Banchi, Nuovi docu-
menti per la storia dell' arte senese, Siena, 1898; F. Wickhoff, Ueber die Zeit des Guido von
Siena (Mittheil. des Instit. fur oesterr. Geschichtsjorschung, 1889; vol. x., 2; refutation of
the legend of Cimabue); J. Destree, Sur quelques peintres de Sienne, Brussels, 1903; A.
Perate, Duccio (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1893, i., p. 89); B. Bcrenson, A Sienese painter
of the Franciscan Legend, Sassetla (Burlington Magazine, 1903, ii., p. 3; cf., L. Douglas,
ibid., 1903, ii., p. 265); E. Bertaux, Sancta Maria di Donna Regina e Varie senese a Napoli
nei secolo XIV., Naples,i899 (cf. Repertorium, 1899, p. 401); A. Gosche, Simone Martini,
Leipzig, 1899; B. Supino, Arte Pisana, Florence, 1903.
R. Davidsohn, Geschichte von Florenz, vol. i., Berlin, 1896 (cf. Repertorium, 1897, p.
215); E. Miintz Florence et la Toscane, Paris, 1896; M. Conway, Early Tuscan Art, Lorn
don, 1903.
Berenson, The Drawings of the Florentine Painters, 2 vols., London, 1903 (large
folios, exceedingly costly and difficult to handle) ; The Florentine Painters oj the Renaissance,
2nd ed., London, 1900; G. Lafenestre et E. Richten-
berger, Florence, Paris, 1895 (Painting); Julia Cart
wright, The Painters oj Florence from the XllPh to the
XVI'h century, London, 1901; M. Zimmermann, Giotto
und die Kunst Ilaliens im Mittelalter, 2 vols., Leipzig,
1899-1900; H. Thode, Giotto, Bielefeld, 1900; John
Ruskin, Giotto and his Works in Padua, London, 1900;
M. Perkins, Giotto, London, 1902; J. B. Supino, II
Camposanto di Pisa, Florence, 1896 (cf. Repertorium,
1897, p. 67); L. Douglas, Fra Angelico, 2nd ed., Lon
don, 1902; Aug. Schmarsow, M asaccio-Studien, Cassel,
1895-1900 (on the Brancacci Chapel and the author
ship of the frescoes in it), cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
1902, i., p. 89); W. Weisbach, Francesco Pesellino, Ber
lin, 1901; C. Loeser, Paolo Uccello (Repertorium, 1898,
p. 83); Wolfram Waldschmidt, Andrea del Caslagno,
Berlin, 1900; H. Ulmann, Bilder und Zeichnungen der
Bruder Pollajuoli (Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums,
1894, p. 230); W. Bode, Verrocchio (ibid., 1882, p. 235);
H. Mackowsky, Verrocchio, Bielefeld, 1901; H. Ulmann,
Sandro Botticelli, Munich, 1893; E. Steinmann, Botti
celli, Bielefeld, 1867 (Eng. transl., London, 1901); A.
Streetcr, Botticelli, London, 1903; E. Miintz, Botti
celli (Gazette des Beaux- A ris, 1 898, ii. , p. 1 7 7) ; E. Jacob-
sen, Allegoria della Primavera di Botticelli (Archivio
storico dell' Arte, 1897, p. 321); H. Mackowsky, Jacopo
del Sellaio Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1899);
E. Steinmann, Ghirlandajo, Bielefeld, 1897; E. Strutt, Fra Filippo Lippi, London, 1902;
J. B. Supino, Les deux Lippi, French transl., by Crozals, Florence, 1904; W. G. Waters,
Piero della Francesca, London, 1901 ; B. Berenson, Alessio Baldovinetti et Piero della Fran-
1 This method consists in deciding upon the authorship of works of art by studying minute details of execu
tion. Cf. Revue critique, 1805, i., p. 271. 147 L 2

F 264. — TOMB OF CARDINALS SFORZA
AND DELLA ROVERE.
ANDREA SANSOVINO.
(Church of S. Maria del Popolo, Rome.)

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
cesca (Gazelle des Beaux-Arts, 1898, ii., p. 39); F. Wilting, Piero dei Franceschi, Strasburg,
1898; Maud Cruttwell, Signorelli, London, 1902; F. Knapp, Piero di Cosimo, Halle, 1899;
H. Haberfeld, Piero di Cosimo, Breslau, 1901; E. Steinmann, Die Sixlinisclie Kapelle,
vol. i., Munich, 1901 (period of Sixtus IV.); W. Kallab, Die Toskanische Landschajls-
malerei (Jahrbiicher of the Vienna Museums, 1900); J. Guthmann, Die Landschajls-
malerei der Toskanischen und Umbrischen Kunst, Leipzig, 1902; F. Rosen, Die Natur in
der Kunst, Leipzig, 1903.
M. Reymond, La Sculpture, florentine, Florence, 1898; W. Bode, Florentinische Bild-
hauer der Renaissance, Berlin, 1902; M. Reymond, Lorenzo Ghiberti (Gazelle des Beaux-
Arts, 1896, ii., p. 125); Hope Rea, Donatello, London, 1900; A.-G. Meyer, Donatello,
Bielefeld, 1902; B. Bertaux, Autour de Donatello (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, ii., p. 241);
E. Miintz, Andrea Verrocchio et le Tombeau de Francesca Tornabuoni (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1891, ii., p. 27); F. Wolff, Michelozzo di Barlolomeo, Strasburg, 1900; M. Cruttwell,
Luca and Andrea della Robbia, London, 1902; S. Weber, Die Entu-icklung des Pulto in der
Plastik der Friihrenaissance, Heidelberg, 1898.
F. Lippmann, Der Kupferstich, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1897, and Botticelli's Drawings illus
trating Dante's Divina Commedia (Facsimiles and commentary, London) ; H. Delaborde,
La Gravure, Paris, no date; Armand, Les Medailleurs ilaliens des XV" el XVI" siecles,
2nd ed., 3 vols., Paris, 1883-1887; A. Heiss, Les Medailleurs de la Renaissance, 7 vols.,
Paris, 1881-1887; C. von Fabriczy, Madaillen der itai. Renaissance, Leipzig, 1903 (cf. Bode,
Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, 1903, ii., p. 36); E. Molinier, Les Plaqueltes, Paris, 1886;
J. Maindron, Les Collections d' armes du Louvre et du Musee d'Artillerie (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1891, ii., p. 466; 1893, ii., p. 265); Les Armes, Paris, no date.
A. de Champeaux, Le Meuble, vol. i., Paris, 1888; E. Molinier, Les Meubles du Moyen
age el de la Renaissance, Paris, 1896; Les Ivoires, Paris, 1896; VEmaillerie, Paris, 1901;
J.-W. Bradley,;! Dictionary of Miniaturists, Illuminators, etc., London, 1888; F. H. Jack
son, Intarsia and Marquetry, London, 1903; Drury Fortnum, Maiolica, London, 1896;
O. von Falke, Majolika, Berlin, 1896; W. Bode, Altfiorentiniscke Ma-joliken (Jahrbiicher
of the Berlin Museums, 1898, p. 206) ; H. Wallis, Early Italian Majolica, London, 1901
(cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902, i., p. 352) ; A. Darcel, La Ceramique italienne (ibid., 1892,
i., p. 136); E. Molinier, La Ceramique italienne au XV" siecle, Paris, 1888'; R. Davillier,
Les Origines de la Porcelaine en Europe, Paris, 1882; G. Vogt, La Porcelaine, Paris, no
date; Th. Deck, La Faience, Paris, no date; E. Miintz, La Tapisserie, 3rd ed., Paris, 1888;
Isab. Errera, Collection d'anciennes Etofjes, Brussels, 1901. Handbooks of the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London.

148

XVI

VENETIAN PAINTING

The Origin of the Venetian School. — The Vivarini. — The Bellini. — The Influence of
Padua upon Venice. — Mantegna. — Antonello da Messina. — Internal Prosperity and
Social Brilliance of Venice. — Sanle. Conversazioni. — The Joyousness of Venetian
Art. — Crivelli. — Carpaccio. — Cima. — Giorgione. — Titian. — Palma. — Lorenzo Lotto.
— Sebastiano del Piombo. — Tintoretto. — Paolo Veronese. — Tiepolo. — The Ending
Influence of the Venetian School.

Although in the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries, Venice produced such
excellent sculptors as the Lombardi,
it is always of her painters that we
think when the Venetian school is in
question ; I therefore propose to deal
only with painting.
The Venetian school, as it existed in
the second half of the fifteenth cen
tury, sprang from two earlier schools.
The first of these centred in the
Island of Murano, where a Byzantine
style, tempered by Sienese influences,
long prevailed. Towards the middle
of the fifteenth century, the most
prominent masters of this school be
longed to the Vivarini family ; the
most distinguished of the Vivarini, Al-
vise, born in 1450, seems to have been
the master of Lorenzo Lotto (Fig. 265).
The second of the primitive Venetian
schools was founded by Jacopo Bel
lini, the father of the two great
painters, Gentile and Giovanni.
Jacopo was the pupil of the Umbrian
painter, Gentile da Fabriano ; but he
seems to have been more affected by
the influence of the school of Padua,
which was the true mother of the great
Venetian School.

Padua, which was politically depen
dent on Venice, had, from the year
1222 onwards, owned a flourishing uni-

FIG. 265. — VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH INFANT
ANGELS.
ALVISE VIVARINI.
(Church of the Redentore, Venice.)
versify, which was in close touch with
France and the Valley of the Rhine ;
it soon became the intellectual centre
of all northern Italy. At a very early
date, Florentine artists began to arrive
at Padua, notably Giotto and Dona
tello, who spent ten years there (1443-

149

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 266. — THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. JAMES.
MANTEGNA.
(Fresco in the Eremitani, Padua.)
1453). The Paduan school is a com
bination of Florentine elegance, and
of a style founded on that of Graeco-
Roman bas-reliefs. Nowhere is the
influence of antique sculpture on a
basis of ancient Gothic ruggedness
more marked. Mantegna, the pupil of

EIG. 267. — BARBARA OF BRANDENBURG, MARCHESA
DI GONZAGA AND HER COURT.
MANTEGNA.
(Fresco in the Palace at Mantua.)
Squarcione (1431-1506), was a mighty
genius who is well represented in the

National Gallery and in the Louvre,
though his more important works are
his frescoes at Padua and Mantua. His
sculpturesque and abstract style, in
which classic and Gothic reminiscences
play an equal part, has a severity
marked by a sort of haughty correct
ness; it should be studied not only in
his pictures, but in his admirable en
gravings and in his drawings (Figs.
266-268). His ruggedness is healthy
and virile, as far removed from
Giottism as from the edulcorated
classicism of the academic school.

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FIG. 268. — THE TRIUMPH OF OfcSAR.
MANTEGNA.
(Fragment of the Cartoon at Hampton Court.)

Mantegna' s influence upon the Vene
tian school of Bellini, and even on the
rival school of Murano, was immense.
It is not too much to say that the
highest qualities of the great Venetian
art of the fifteenth century were de
rived from him.
A third element on which much
stress is to be laid is the part played
by Antonello da Messina, a painter
who, though by birth a Sicilian,
worked at Venice. Born in 1444, he

ISO

VENETIAN PAINTING

went, it is said, to study in Flanders,
and there learned the process of paint
ing in oil from one of the successors of
Van Eyck, perhaps Petrus Cristus.
(It is,- however, quite possible that the
Venetians, who were constantly in
communication with Flanders, knew
the process before his time.) Antonello
is the author of the beautiful portrait
in the Louvre known as the Condot-
ticre; he painted several others almost
equally fine, that, for instance, in the
Casa Trivulzio, at Milan (Fig. 269), and

(pigment mixed with white of egg),
which formed the basis of the picture.

FIG. 269. — PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA.
(Trivulzio Collection, Milan.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
certain little pictures, marvellously dex
terous in execution, among them the
Crucifixion in the Antwerp Gallery, and
the St. Jerome in the London National
Gallery, which also owns the reputed
Portrait of Himself, and his earliest
signed work, the Salvator Mundi.
It will be well to explain here that at
this period, oil-colors were only used
to give superficial lustre to very care
fully executed painting in tempera

FIG. 270. — A RURAL CONCERT.
GIORGIONE.
(The Louvre.)
The first artist who used oil as his
sole medium was the Spaniard, Vel
asquez. Venice was better governed than
the other towns of Italy. Her trade
with the East had made her rich and
prosperous ; civil war was unknown
to her. Religion was respected within
her territory, but was less tyrannical

FIG. 271. — PIETA.
GIOVANNI BELLINI.
(Brera, Milan.)

than elsewhere; even in the thirteenth
century, Venice held her own against

151

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the Inquisition, and reserved the right
of punishing heretics for her own

FIG. 272. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
GIOVANNI BELLINI.
(Academy, Venice.)
(Photo, by Naya.)
magistrates, to the exclusion of monks
sent from Rome. Social life had
developed brilliantly ; the Venetians
loved pleasure, fine clothes, brilliant
assemblies, and stately pageants, in
which all the representative bodies
took part. These tendencies are
reflected in Venetian painting; it is
gay, luminous, full of the joy of life;
it loves to render magnificent pro
cessions — as in Gentile Bellini's famous
picture at Milan — or social gatherings,
sacred and profane. The sacred
groups are the Holy Conversations,
a kind of composition peculiar to
Venetian painting, in which male and
female saints and Scriptural characters
are gathered together without any
apparent reason, for the mere pleasure
of meeting. The secular assemblies
are of the type of Giorgione's exquisite

Rural Concert in the Louvre (Fig. 270)
a group of nude women and musicians
in a rich landscape. Such gatherings
certainly never took place in Venice;
but the painters of Conversazioni were
not concerned with actualities; they
wished to paint beautiful bodies and
brilliant costumes, to suggest the idea
of free and joyous life against a lumin
ous background of landscape, and in
this they succeeded.
From the close of the fifteenth
century, the Madonnas and Saints of
the Venetian painters were no longer
ascetic and morose persons, but
beautiful young women and handsome
young men, with blooming com
plexions and sunny hair, who loved to
deck themselves with gorgeous stuffs,
and held life to be well worth living.
This smiling optimism is the
essential characteristic of Venetian

FIG. 273. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
GIOVANNI BELLINI.
(Nationl Gallery, London.)
painting, and is expressed chiefly in
the radiant splendour of its colour.

152

VENETIAN PAINTING

FIG. 274. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
GIOVANNI BELLINI AND BASAITI.
(Benson Collection, London.)
(Photo, by Rischgitz.)

FIG. 275. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
CRIVELLI.
(Benson Collection, London.)
(Photo, by Braun, Clement and Co.)

FIG. 276. — VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH
TWO SAINTS.
CIMA DA CONEGLIANO.
(Museum, Vienna.)

153

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

It is inadmissible to explain this by
the climate, for the skies of Naples

FIG. 277. — HISTORY OF ST. URSULA.
CARPACCIO.
(Academy, Venice.)
are much more brilliant than those of
Venice, and Neapolitan colour is grey
and black. It was a result of moral
and physical health at Venice, as in
the Flanders of Rubens. At Florence,
even in the works of delicate and
skilful colourists, the colour is more
or less an accessory of the drawing;
at Venice, from the time of Giorgione
onwards, it was painting itself, and
this seems sometimes less intent
upon the objects it represents than
upon the atmosphere in which they

FIG. 278. — THE ENTOMBMENT.
TITIAN.
(The Louvre.)

E<

are bathed, the light that penetrates
and envelopes them. The Venetians
were not only colourists, but luminists.

Giovanni Bellini, who lived eighty-
six years (1430-1516), passed through
such a variety of stages that he was a
school of painting in himself, rather
than a single painter. His first
works are dry and delicate, closely
akin to those of Mantegna, with a
certain hardness and eccentricity in
the drawing. The compositions of
his maturity are masterpieces in which
scarcely any quality is lacking, not
even a reflection of the colour of his
pupil, Giorgione, who died six years
before him. In his laborious life, this
great artist traversed all the road that
led from Mantegna to Titian. One
single gift was denied him : the power

FIG. 279. — VENUS AND MEDEA.
(SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE.)
TITIAN.
(Borghese Gallery, Rome.)
or the desire to represent movement
(Figs. 271-274)..
Crivelli, on the other hand, who was
formed at Padua (1430-1494) never
ceased to be a primitive. In his
fragile Virgins, with their slight
grimace, their slim, nervous figures,
their quivering contours and dazzling
draperies, the rich lustre of Japanese
lacquer is united to the most subtle
elegance of Gothic art (Fig. 275).
Carpaccio (1460-1521) and Cima
da Conegliano (1460-1517) are the
most lovable personalities among this
group of men of genius. In his series
illustrating the Legend of St. Ursula

154

VENETIAN PAINTING

in the Venice Academy (Fig. 277),
Carpaccio is a story-teller both
amused and amusing, less smiling
than Benozzo Gozzoli, but more
thoughtful and suggestive. Cima is
the delightful painter of Virgins who
are still serious, but conscious of
their own beauty, whose softly
rounded forms are in strong contrast
to the ascetic, bony frames of the
Florentines (Fig. 276).
Giorgione, in the course of his brief
life (1478-1510), united the gaiety of
Carpaccio to the poetry and delicacy
of his master, Bellini; but he sur
passed all his contemporaries by
the extraordi
nary magic of his
brush (Figs. 270,
281). His Con
versazioni, his
mytholog i c a 1
and allegorical
pictures, and his
portraits, had an
immense suc
cess, attested by
numerous copies
and still more
numerous imita
tions; the Venetian Renaissance ac
claimed its most perfect expression
in this painter of light and of glowing
flesh. Titian did not, as was formerly be
lieved, live to be ninety-nine, but
eighty-five, a ripe old age nevertheless.
Born about 1490, and collaborating,
while still a youth, with Giorgione.
he finished one of his master's most
beautiful works, the Reclining Venus,
at Dresden, and inherited his splen
dour of colour, while surpassing him
in fertility of invention. Titian never
ceased to advance in his art, even in

FIG. 2S0. — PORTRAIT OF
FRANCIS I.
TITIAN.
(The Louvre.)

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FIG. 281. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH
SS. GEORGE AND LD3ERALE.
GIORGIONE.
(Church of Castclfranco.)
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts.)
his extreme old age. His first pictures,
without being dry, are still somewhat
timid in touch; as an old man, he
painted with unprecedented fire and
boldness, preparing the way for Velas
quez and the French painters of our
own day. He essayed every class of

FIG. 282. — THE THREE SISTERS.
PALMA.
(Museum, Dresden.)
subject, including great episodes of
pagan mythology, in which his pas-

155

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 283. — THE ANNUNCIATION.
LORENZO LOTTO.
(Church of S. Maria, Recanati.)
(Photo, by Anderson, Rome.)

FIG. 284. — PORTRAIT OF LAURA DI POLA
LORENZO LOTTO.
(Brera, Milan.)
(Photo, by Brogi.)

FIG. 2S5. — THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS.
SEBASTXANO DEL PIOMBO.
(National Gallery, London.)
(Woermann, History of Painting. Seemann,
Leipzig.)

FIG, 286. — PORTRAIT OF A ROMAN LADY,
WITH THE ATTRIBUTES OF
ST. DOROTHEA.
SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO.
(Museum, Berlin.)

156

VENETIAN PAINTING

sionate love of life, of movement, and
of beautiful nature are more perfectly
expressed than elsewhere. Even his
sacred pictures often share the radiant
gaiety of his Bacchanals. As to his
portraits, such as the Man with the
Glove, in the Louvre, the seated Charles
V. at Munich, and the Ariosto in the
National Gallery, they are pages of
profound psychology as well as rich
aesthetic feasts (Figs. 278-280, 287, 288).
Palma Vecchio, a painter somewhat
older than Titian, who died long before
him (1480-1528), was, like him, a
successor of Giorgione, though with a
temperament far calmer and less ori
ginal (Fig. 282). His Annunciation to
the Shepherds, in the Louvre, is one of
the most charming idylls of Venetian
painting; lacking the genius of Titian,
it has all the seduction of his brush.
A very different master was Lo
renzo Lotto (1480-1556), the most indi
vidual of the great Venetians, who
felt the influence of Giorgione les/s
.than any of his contemporaries. In
his art there is a touch of melancholy,
and a sympathetic suavity which
strike a strangely modern note in
his hest pictures, and is even echoed
in his admirable portraits (Figs. 283,
284). This gentle sadness of Lotto's
must have been the outcome of
personal temperament; if it were to
be accounted for by the political
events of his maturity — the abase
ment of Venice, the beginning of the
Counter-Reformation — we should find
traces of the same sentiment in his
contemporaries. A fact that remains
inexplicable is the resemblance be
tween certain works by Lotto and
those of Correggio, an artist with
whom it is highly improbable that he
ever came in contact, and who worked

at Parma, a city Lotto is not likely to
have visited.
The youngest of the great painters
of this generation Sebastiano del
Piombo (1485-1547), was a highly
gifted artist, who began by successfully
imitating Giorgione; but going to
Rome, he came under the influence

FIG. 287. — THE MADONNA OF THE PESARO FAMILY.
TITIAN.
(Church of the Frari, Venice.)
first of Raphael, and afterwards of
Michelangelo, to such an extent that
he lost his individuality. He remained
a Venetian, however, in the fine inten
sity of his colour. In his best works,
such as the Resurrection of Lazarus in
the National Gallery, he approaches
Titian and Michelangelo; in his por
traits, he is closely akin to Raphael,
for whom he is often mistaken (Figs.
285, 286).

157

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

But the true Michelangelo of
Venice was Tintoretto (1518-1594)
who, together with Paolo Veronese
(1528-1588), dominates the second
epoch of the Renaissance in Venice
with his feverish and somewhat trivial
activity. Michelangelo's frescoes in
the Sistine Chapel have inspired hun

ne 28a. — THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
TITIAN.
(Academy, Venice.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)
dreds of artists; but how few had the
temperament of their model! Tin
toretto was one of these few; he was
not an imitator of the great Florentine,
but a younger brother, born under
serener skies. Amazing in his fecun
dity, eager for difficulties to overcome,
fiery and unequal, Tintoretto sought
and found in violent contrasts of light
and shade grandiose effects unknown
to his predecessors. As a draughts
man he is often brutal and incorrect,
but never puerile; as a painter, he

FIG. 2S0. — THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN
IN THE TEMPLE.
TINTORETTO.
(Church of S. Maria dell' Orto, Venice.)
(Photo, by Naya.)
took up the tradition of the aged Titian,
who, weary of the russet and golden
tones so lavishly used in the Venetian
Renaissance, had created a new palette
for himself, in which silvery grays and
blues predominated over more brilliant

FIG. 2QO. — THE ORIGIN OF THE Mn.KY WAY
TINTORETTO.
(National Gallery, London.)
colours (Figs. 289, 290). Nearly all
Tintoretto's large pictures have black-

^58

VENETIAN PAINTING

riG. 2gi. — THE RAPE OF EUROPA.
PAUL VERONESE.
(Doges' Palace, Venice.)
ened; but we may form some idea" of
his gifts as a colourist from his small
sketches and his portraits.
Paolo Caliari, called Veronese,
sprang from a family of painters at
Verona, in spite of which he has ex
pressed the luxurious life of Venice,
in the second half of the sixteenth
century, without a touch of provincial
ism in his accent. Something of the
pomp and solemnity of Spain, whose

FIG. 202. — THE REWARD.
PAUL VERONESE.
(Doges' Palace, Venice.)

ascendency weighed heavily upon Italy
in his time, mingles in his fine com
positions with his essentially Venetian

love for clear light and splendid cos
tumes (Figs. 291, 292). He also shows
a marked preference for silvery tones;
it may truly be said that in Venetian
painting the silver age succeeded the
golden age.
The fact that there were two Renais
sances at Venice, in spite of the political
and commercial decay of the city after
the League of Cambrai (1512), shows
how favourable her soil had proved
to the develop
ment of Re-
naissance
tendencies. Venice was,
further, fortu-
n a t e enough
to escape the
academic
e cl e ct i c i s m,
w hie h , after
the fruition of
the Roman
School under
Raphael, d e-
s t r o y e d the
great schools
of painting in
Italy. Even in the
fulness of the eighteenth century,
Venice possessed one great Renais
sance artist, Tiepolo (1696-1770).
She was still the loveliest and the
gayest city in the world, the trysting-
place of pleasure and elegance;
as of old, the scene of magnifi
cent processions and imposing cere
monies. Life there was easy and
comparatively free, in a marvellous
setting, enveloped in a transparent
atmosphere, which first Canaletto, and
then Guardi, the painters par excellence
of the lagoons, rendered with such in-

FIG. 2p3. — ST. JOSEPH AND
THE INFANT JESUS.
TIEPOLO.
(Church of the Gesuiti,
Venice.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)

l$9

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

finite truth and charm. Tiepolo gave
final expression to these splendours.
His genius is akin to that of Tinto
retto, but he has more moderation,
more elegance; he was the painter of a
polished aristocracy, conscious of its

FIG. 294. — ST. JUSTINA.
MORETTO.
(Museum, Vienna.)
superiority to the crowd, whose
religion, modified by Spain, the
Counter-Reformation, and the Jesuits,
was a subtle mingling of devotion and
worldliness (Fig, 293). Tiepolo, it has
been truly said, was the last of the old
painters and the first of the moderns;
nearly all the great decorators of the

nineteenth century were inspired by
him. The influence of the Venetian
School was immense. In Italy, it gave
birth to various local schools, Verona,
Vicenza, and Brescia, the last-named
memorable as having produced the
great Moretto (1498-1555), who fore
stalled Tintoretto and Veronese in
the use of silvery tones (Fig. 294).
Tintoretto, and Bassano (1510-1592),
one of the creators of modern
landscape, were the first exemplars
of Velasquez. Titian inspired Rubens
and Reynolds; Tiepolo was imitated
by the Spaniard, Goya, to whom
we may, in a measure, ascribe
the origin of French painting in the
second half of the nineteenth century.
In these, her offspring, it may be said
that the Venetian School still exists,
differing essentially in this respect
from that of Florence, which has
known but one ephemeral and artificial
resurrection in the group of English
Pre-Raphaelites. We have seen, in
our survey of architecture, that the
palaces of Venice continued to serve
as models, whereas the severe art of
Bramante merely inspired isolated imi
tations. The Renaissance triumphed
at Venice, and was widely propagated
by her. But one thing was lacking
to her that was the glory of Florence:
gravity of life and depth of thought.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XVI.

Works quoted (p. 146) by Burckhardt, Crowe et Cavalcaselle, Liibke, Morelli,
Miintz, Woltmann. — B. Berenson, The Venetian Painters, 3rd ed., London, 1898; Lafen
estre and Richtenberger, Venise, Paris, 1897 (Painting); P. Paoletti, V Architecture et la
Sculpture de la Renaissance a Venise, Venice 1899; P. Paoletti et G. Ludwig, Neue
archiv. Beitrage zur Gesch. der venez. Malerei (Repertorium, 1899, p. 427 ; 1900 ; p. 274);
Romain Rolland, La Decadence de la Peinture italienne (Revue de Paris, 1896, i., p. 168 ;
Mantegna, Titian, Paul Veronese, etc.). l6o

VENETIAN PAINTING
P. Shubring, Altichiero und seine Schule, Leipzig, 1898; J. Ffoulkes, Vincenzo Foppa
(Burlington Magazine, 1903, i., p. 103).
P. Kristeller, Andrea Mantegna, Berlin, 1902 (English ed., 1903); H. Thode, Mantegna,
Bielefeld, 1896; Maud Cruttwell, Mantegna, London, 1902.
P. Molmenti, Carpaccio, Venice, 1894; P. Molmenti et G. Ludwig, Vitlore Carpaccio
et la Conjrerie de Sainte-Ursule, Florence, 1903 (cf. Mary Logan, Burlington Magazine,
1903, ii., p. 317).
G- Gronau, Antonello da Messina (Repertorium, 1897, p. 347; on the formation of
Antonello's art, cf. Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1902, ii., p. 59).
R. Fry, Giovanni Bellini, London, 1899; J. Rushforth, Carlo Crivelli, London, 1900;
H. Cook, Giorgione, London, 1900; Crowe et Cavalcaselle, Titian, 2 vols., London, 1877;
H. Knackfuss, Tizian, Bielefeld, 1896; G. Gronau, Tizian, Berlin, 1900; G. Lafenestre,
La Vie et VCEuvre de Titien, Paris, 1886; M. Hamel, Titien, Paris, 1903; G. Gronau,
Tizian's himmlische und irdische Liebe (Repertorium, 1903, p. 177: an explanation of the
picture known as Sacred and Profane Love). On the date of Titian's birth: H. Cook,
Repertorium, 1902, p. 98.
B. Berenson, Lorenzo Lotto, 2nd ed., London, 1895; H. Thode, Tintoretto, Bielefeld,
1901; B. S. Holborn, Tintoretto, London, 1903; R. Fry, Paolo Veronese, London, 1903;
F. H. Meissner, Paolo Veronese, Bielefeld, 1896; H. de Chennevieres, Les Tiepolo, Paris,
1898; F. H. Meissner, Tiepolo, Bielefeld, 1896; H. Modern, G. B. Tiepolo, Vienna, 1902.

l6l M

FIG. 2Q5- — THE LAST SUPPER.
LEONARDO DA VINCI.
(Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.)
(From Raphael Morghen's engraving.)

XVII

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL
THE MILANESE SCHOOL, THE UMBRIAN SCHOOL,
AND THE ROMAN SCHOOL
Leonardo's Genius a Synthesis of the Renaissance. — His Birth. — His Works for Lo
dovico Sforza. — His Manuscripts: Scientific Writings. — Leonardo as a Sculptor. —
Leonardo's Pictures. — Raphael's Superiority to Perugino andPintoricchio. — Raphael's
Birth and Parentage. — Timoteo Viti his first Master. — The Knight's Dream. — Ra
phael Perugino's Assistant. — The Sposalizio. — Raphael at Florence. — The Madonnas
of the Florentine Period. — Raphael at Rome. — Giulio Romano his Assistant. — The
Vatican Frescoes. — Madonnas and Portraits of the Roman Period. — An Apprecia
tion of Raphael's Genius.

All the intellectual curiosity of the
Renaissance, its dreams of glory and
of infinite progress, its enthusiasm for
science and for beauty, were com
bined with many other attributes of
genius in Leonardo. Born at Vinci,
between Pisa and Florence in 1452,
he died at Amboise in 1519, having
spent his youth in Florence, his ma
turity in Milan, and the last three
years of his life in France, ¦where he
seems to have become too feeble to
work. Few artists have been more

industrious, but few have produced
less; in science as in art, he was
tormented by a passion for innova
tion, a desire to strike out new paths.
In some respects, he recalls those
alchemists of the Middle Ages, who
squandered the most brilliant gifts in
the pursuit of a chimerical ideal.
When, in 1483, Leonardo offered
his services to Lodovico il Moro,
Duke of Milan, in a letter that has
been preserved, he recommended him:
self as an inventor of engines of war,

162

LEONARDO DA VINGI AND RAPHAEL

a builder of movable bridges and
chariots, a tactician skilled in the
science of artillery and sieges. At
the end of his letter ' he adds: "Item,
I will execute sculpture in marble,
bronze, or terra-cotta; also in painting
I can do as much as any other, be he
who he may." It was evidently as
an engineer and inventor that he
esteemed himself most highly.
His manuscripts, the majority of
which are preserved in the library of
the Institut de France, bear witness
to his passionate interest in science,
and more particularly in mechanics,
He believed he had made a practical
design for a flying machine. The
value of Leonardo's scientific work has
been successively exaggerated and de
preciated. His manuscripts contain

FIG, 200. — THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS.
(The Louvre.)
many notes and extracts which merely
reproduce the ideas of others, but, on
the other hand, he certainly fore
shadowed many important discoveries,
and, more especially in geology, he

FIG. 297. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. ANNE.
LEONARDO DA VINCI.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
had formed opinions far in advance of
his times.
In his capacity as a sculptor, Leon
ardo worked for seventeen years at an
equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza,
the father of Lodovico il Moro. The
plaster model of the horse, without
the rider, was shown in 1493, and de
stroyed by the archers of Louis XII.
It is not even certain that any copies
have been preserved. No trace re
mains of his other works in sculpture,
which were not numerous. The beauti
ful profile head of a man in a helmet,
bequeathed to the Louvre by M. Rat
tier, may possibly be by him.
The extant paintings by Leonardo
comprise four masterpieces of the
highest rank, three of which are in the
Louvre: The Last Supper, painted
in oil on the wall of the refectory at
Santa Maria delle Grazie at Milan
(1497), a work that is now a wreck,
but of which some twenty good copies

163

M2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

•98. — MONNA LISA GIOCONDA.
LEONARDO DA VINCI.
(The Louvre.)

FIG. 299. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
BELTRAFFIO.
(Poldi Pezzoli Collection, Milan.)

FIG. 300. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
BELTRAFFIO.
(National Gallery.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)

FIG. 301. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
(Vierge au Coussin Vert.)
(The Louvre.)

164

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL

exist ; the Virgin among the Rocks,'
painted about 1483 ; the Virgin with
St. Anne, painted about 1502, and
finally, the famous portrait of Monna
Lisa Gioconda, executed from 1502 to
1506. Leonardo's pictures at Florence and
in the Vatican, The Adoration of the
Magi and the St. Jerome are unfinished.
Others ascribed to him in Paris and
elsewhere have been very much re-

FIG. 302. — CARTOON FOR A HOLY FAMILY.
LEONARDO DA VINCI.
(Royal Academy, London.)
painted, or are the works of pupils.
Among these disputable works there
are, however, two of great beauty, the
so-called Portrait of Lucrezia Crivelli
and the John the Baptist, the latter
marred by a certain affectation. Both
are in the Louvre. Even the three great
pictures I have grouped with the Last
Supper are almost in a state of ruin.
1 Critics disagree as to the merits of the
two rival versions of this work, in the Na
tional Gallery and the Louvre respectively.
Each has been pronounced a copy of the
other.

FIG. 303. — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
LEONARDO DA VINCI.
(Fragment of a Drawing in the Louvre.)
Modern restorers are not responsible
for this. Leonardo did nothing with
simplicity. His oil-painting was a
complicated amalgam predestined to
scale and blacken. Nevertheless, the
Virgin among the Rocks and the

FIG. 304. — THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN.
LUINI.
(Fresco in the Church of Saronno.) t:
Gioconda suffice to give the measure
of his genius.
Leonardo, unlike his master Verroc
chio, his contemporary, Botticelli, and
the great Florentines of the fifteenth
century in general, sought to express

165

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the fluidity of atmosphere, and dis
carded the dry, angular manner of the
Primitives. But this did not lead him
into inaccuracy or flaccidity. With him,
rigour of drawing, and impeccable re
finement of line, were completed by the
art of veiling them under the fusion of
modelling and chiaroscuro, the manner
called by the Italians lo sfumato. Pre
cision of outline is but a first stage,
leading to a precision subtler and more
difficult of attainment, that of planes.
By the middle of the sixteenth century,

FIG. 305. — THE VIRGIN WITH THE SCALES.
CESARE DA SESTO (?)
(The Louvre.)
the Gioconda was accepted in Italy as
the inimitable masterpiece of the art of
portraiture, the greatest effort of the
painter setting himself to compete with
Nature. It was said that Leonardo
worked at it for four years, and that to
call up the sweet and smiling expres
sion on his sitter's face, he caused her
to be entertained with music and other
diversions. It was not until modern
times that a mysterious and romantic

FIG. 306. — ST. VICTOR.
SODOMA.
(Palazzo Pubblico, Siena.)
character was attributed to Monna
Lisa, a sphinx-like gaze, a scornful
irony, and a hundred other things un
dreamt of by Leonardo.
Leonardo's type of the Madonna, —
whence he took that he has impressed
on the Gioconda, for the portraits of

FIG. 307. — THE NATIVITY.
LU1NT.
(Fresco in the Church of Saronno.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
an artist of genius always show
influence of his ideal — is akin to

the the
favourite type of his master, Ver-

166

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL

rocchio. Leonardo embellished and
spiritualised it, eliminated its harsh
ness and dryness, and endowed it with
that smile, which- had already taken
on a touch of affectation in the St.
Anne, and was destined to become
still more exaggerated and insipid in
the hands of his imitators.
The Last Supper at Milan shows
with what deep attention to the under
lying thought Leonardo grouped his
figures. The subject had been very
often treated before ; but he laid down
a quasi-definitive formula for it. Jesus
has just said: "One of you shall be
tray Me," and He bows His head, as
if to the blast of emotion He has
evoked. It is not only a great work
of art, but a page of the profoundest
psychology, a study of character and
feeling, translated at once by the ex
pressions of the faces, the gestures,
and the attitudes.

FIG. 308. — THE VISION OF ST. CATHERINE.
SODOMA.
(Church of San Domenico, Siena.)
In addition to these beautiful but
half-ruined works, we have happily a

FIO. 309. — VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
SODOMA.
(Museum, Turin.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
good many of Leonardo's drawings,
which are to be reckoned among the
undisputed masterpieces of the Renais
sance, and would suffice of themselves
to make the. glory of a great artist.
Two of these drawings may. be men
tioned as incomparable : the cartoon of
the Virgin' with St. Anne; in the. Royal
Academy of London, and the Adora
tion of the Magi in the Louvre.
Leonardo founded a school at Milan,
which included several artists of talent,
BeltrafEo, Solario, and Cesare da
Sesto, but also a large proportion of
clumsy and mediocre imitators. The
most popular of these disciples was
and is Luini, who may be said to have
translated the ideal of Leonardo into
simple terms, a process he carried out
not altogether without vulgarity, for
his elegance is superficial, his draw
ing uncertain, and his power of inven
tion limited. His most characteristic
trait is a certain honeyed softness that

167

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

delights the multitude; but he rose to
great heights in his frescoes in the

-THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH
AND ANGELS.
PERUGIN0.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)

Church of Saronno, where he appears
as the Filippino Lippi of the Milanese
School. Leonardo's influence is also
very apparent in the work of the
Sienese Sodoma (d. 1549), an artist
who, though unequal and mannered,
is sometimes very ' happily inspired.
Finally, Leonardo is the artist whom
the Flemings of the first half of the
sixteenth century imitated more than
any other Italian; many of the reputed
Leonardos of our museums are noth
ing but Flemish pasticci.
The life of Raphael Santi (or Sanzio)
is a coihplete contrast to that of
Leonardo. . If the latter, in the course
of his long life, produced so little,
Raphael, who died at the age of 37,
left an immense artistic legacy behind
him, which has come down to us
almost in its entirety.
To understand this passionately ac
claimed artist, we must first get a clear

idea of the origin of his talent; for
no painter was more open to influ
ences, or even more prone to imi
tate. The truth about the formation
of Raphael's genius was discovered by
Morelli about 1880; it is the more
necessary to insist upon it, because it
has not yet become an accepted fact
in the teaching of art history.
We will first take a rapid survey of
Raphael's more remote precursors.
The Umbrian School, the offspring of
the Sienese School, revealed itself to
wards the close of the fourteenth cen
tury in Gentile da Fabriano's (1360-
1428) Adoration of the Magi, in all
the freshness of its youthful visions, its
gay tints and amusing narrative. At
Venice, Gentile collaborated with his
friend, the Veronese Pisanello, the
engraver of admirable medals, a
draughtsman of genius, and, further,
the first Italian who observed animals,

FIG. 311. — THE ENTOMBMENT.
PERUGINO.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)
and rendered their attitudes and action
faithfully. When Roger Van der Wey-

168

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL

den visited Italy about 1450, he ex
pressed his admiration for the works
of Pisanello and Gentile; the great
artist from the North recognised in
them talents akin to his own. I.t is
indeed probable that both Pisanello
and Gentile, but more especially the
former, were familiar with the mas
terpieces of the Flemish School, and
were influenced by them. Verona
was in constant communication with
the Court of Burgundy, and as early
as the year 1400 Philip the . Bold
bought Italian medals. The pre-

ing up, as it were, the tradition of
the Sienese, they opposed a deliberately

FIG. 312. — THE VIRGIN IN GLORY.
PERUGINO.
(Museum, Bologna.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)
cursors of the Van Eycks, and doubt
less Hubert Van Eyck himself, learned
much from Italy, though it is not easy
to say on which side of the Alps the
loans were most numerous and most
important. In the second half of the fifteenth
century the Umbrian towns, notably
Perugia, developed a school of paint
ing very unlike that of Florence. Tak-

FIG. 3I3.  THE MAGDALENE.
TIMOTEO VITI.
(The Brera, Milan.)
luscious suavity to the austere ele
gance of the Florentines. They are
fascinating masters, full of freshness
and poetry, but with something childish

FIG. 314. — THE RETURN OF ULYSSES.
PINTORIC'CHIO.
(National Gallery, London.)
and limited in their art. If the Floren
tines are over intellectual, they are

169

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

often puerile. The two great Umbrian
masters were Vannucci, called Per-

an exquisite sense of reverie and
ecstasy. Such qualities may be ad-

Bf

ifmiStfB&Mm
MiliigH "1 7'. -r. z -¦ --A
315. — THE ADORATION OF THE INFANT
JESUS.
FRANCIA.
(Museum, Bologna.)
ugino, born in 1446, and Betti, called
Pintoricchio, born in 1454. - Perugino
-THE KNIGHT S DREAM.
RAPHAEL.
(National Gallery.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
had an instinct for large, airy composi
tions, and golden, transparent colour,
FIG. 316. — THE ENTOMBMENT.
FRANCIA.
(Museum, Turin.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
mired to the full in the beautiful
triptych of the National Gallery and
the delicate tondo in the Louvre. But
he could not represent movement, and
when he attempts to set his figures in
motion, they dance instead of walking.
Pintoricchio, for a time the foreman
of Perugino's studio, had certain gifts
which were denied his master; but he
drew worse, and thought even less;
his large compositions, such as the
series in the Libreria at Siena and the
frescoes of the .Borgia Rooms in the
Vatican, are decorative and seductive,
rather than powerfully executed. But
he is a very interesting figure in the
history of art, for it was he who cre
ated, or at least developed, the exquisite
type of the Umbrian Madonna, trans
mitting the ideal to Raphael.
A malady of taste common among
novices in connoisseurship leads them
170
LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL

to prefer Perugino and
Pintoricchio to Raphael,
and even to all other
Italian painters. The
remedy is a simple'
one : go to Perugia.
The patient will re-
t u r n disillusioned and
cured. We have seen that
the Venetian school had
thrown out innumera
ble off - shoots in the
north of Italy. One of
its colonies, that of
Bologna, produced a
distinguished -goldsmith-
painter, F r a n c i a (b.
1450), who came very
near to being a genius. In style he
was halfway between Giovanni Bellini
and Raphael. His pupil and fore-

was eleven years old
when he lost his father,
Giovanna Santi, a me
diocre painter to whom
he owed nothing, not
even the first principles
of his a r t. At this
juncture (1494), Timoteo
Viti quitted Francia's
studio to set up for
himself at Urbino. He
was Raphael's first mas
ter, and grounded him
in the manner of Fran-
cia. It was from him
that Raphael acquired
a certain predilection
for round and opu
lent forms, which is in
itself the negation of the ascetic ideal.
About 1490, at the age of sixteen,

318.— THE MARRIAGE OF THE
virgin (Sposalizio).
RAPHAEL.
(Brera, Milan.)

FIG. 319.— THE MADONNA DEL GRAN DUCA.'
RAPHAEL.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)

FIG. 320. — THE MADONNA DELLA CASA TEMPI.
RAPHAEL.
(Pinacothek, Munich.) (Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)

man, about 1490, was one Timoteo Raphael painted the charming little
Viti. picture in the National Gallery, the
Born at Urbino in 1483, Raphael Vision of a Knight. Nothing in this
I7I

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

work recalls Perugino, as whose pupil
and successor Raphael has so long
passed. The following year (1500), Raphael
entered Perugino's workshop at Peru
gia, not as pupil, but as assistant.
The master, then overwhelmed with
work, was at Florence; Pintoric
chio was the foreman of the studio.
Raphael, whose nature was peculiarly

FIG. 321. — "LA BELLE JARDINIERE."
RAPHAEL.
(The Louvre.)
impressionable, drew his inspiration
for some four years from Pintoricchio
and Perugino; there are pictures by
him painted at this period, the car
toons and studies for which are by one
or the other of his Umbrian masters.
Thus his first sympathetic manner was
evolved, by a blending of the styles
of Francia and Perugino. He is, how
ever, more akin to the former than
to the latter in the masterpiece of

FIG. 322. — THE "MADONNA DEL PRATO
RAPHAEL.
(Museum, Vienna.)
his youth, the Sposalizio or Marriage
of the Virgin, at Milan (1504). It was
long supposed that this picture was

FIG. 323. — THE "MADONNA DI FOLIGNO."
RAPHAEL.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
almost an exact copy of a large com
position attributed to Perugino in the

172

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL

Museum of Caen. But Mr. Berenson
found the Caen Sposalizio to be no
Perugino at all, but 'a poor Umbrian

This was the period of the beautiful
Madonnas, for which the civilised
world has eagerly competed for some

FIC 324. — THE MADONNA DI SAN SISTO.
(Virgin and Child with S. Barbara and Pope
Sixtus II.)
RAPHAEL.
(Dresden Gallery.)

FIG. 325. — THE MADONNA WITH THE FISH
RAPHAEL.
(Prado Museum, Madrid.)
(Photo, by Manzi, Joyant and Co.)

FIG. 326. — LA DISPUTA, OR TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH.
RAPHAEL.
(Fresco in the Vatican.)

FIG. 327. — THE SCHOOL OE ATHENS.
RAPHAEL.
(Fresco in the Vatican.)

imitation, probably by Lo Spagna, of
Raphael's Sposalizio.
From 1504 to 1508 Raphael was at
Florence, already famous, and ad
vancing from one success to another.

four centuries, the Munich Madonna,
the so-called Madonna del Gran
Duca in the Pitti Palace, the Belle
Jardiniere of the Louvre, the Belvedere
Madonna at Vienna. At Florence,

173

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Raphael began to imitate Leonardo da
Vinci, Michelangelo, and Fra Barto-

FIG. 328.— POPE LEO I. CHECKING THE ADVANCE
OF ATTILA.
RAPHAEL.
(Fresco in the Vatican.)

lommeo, a Florentine painter whose
drawing was defective, but who was
a remarkable colourist. One reason
of the unparalleled popularity of Ra
phael was that faculty for adaptation
and intelligent imitation which made
his art the synthesis and quintessence
of all that was most fascinating in
Italian genius.
Summoned to Rome in 1508, Raphael

FIG. 329. — HELIODORUS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE.
RAPHAEL.
(Fresco in the Vatican.)
became successively the favourite
painter of Julius II. (d. 1513) and of

Leo X. Honours were showered upon
him, and he was overwhelmed with
commissions. He had not only a
numerous school, but a veritable court.
From this time forward, it was his
almost invariable practice to furnish
only the cartoons for pictures, leav
ing the. execution of them to his
pupils, and re-touching them before
sending them home to his clients.
The most active and gifted of his
pupils, Giulio Romano, painted carna-

FIG. 330. — THE. LOCGIE OF THE VATICAN.
(Decorated under the direction of Raphael.)
tions with a peculiar brick red tone,
which appears as the assistant's signa
ture in many pictures of Raphael's
Roman period. This tone was ad
mired and imitated by the fervent
Raphaelites of the nineteenth century,
though it is universally held to be very
unpleasant now.
The great task confided to Raphael
in Rome was the decoration of certain
rooms in the Vatican (le Stanze) and
of a long covered gallery round the
Courtyard of San Damasio (le Loggie).

m

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL

The Stanzc contain vast historical,
allegorical, and religious compositions,

FIG. 331. — PORTRAIT OF JULIUS II. (FRAGMENT).
RAPHAEL.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)

which was completed after his death
by Giulio Romano. In addition to all
this, Raphael had been appointed
architect of St. Peter's after the death
of Bramante, and inspector of the
antiquities and monuments of Rome.
If we further accept the statement that
he led a life of pleasure, and was the
assiduous worshipper of a lady of whom
he has left a fine portrait, the Donna
Velata in the Pitti Palace, we can only
-wonder that for twelve years of untir
ing productiveness, he was able to
withstand so many causes of physical
fatigue, especially as he seems from
his portraits to have been by nature
frail and delicate, almost effeminate.
An anthropologist, examining a cast
of his skull, supposed it to be that of
a woman, and his art, with its pre
dominance of sweetness over strength,
and its susceptibility to novel influ-

such as the Dispute of the Sacra
ment (more exactly described as The
Triumph of the Church), The School of
Athens, Parnassus, Heliodorus driven
from the Temple, Pope Leo Checking
the Advance of Attila, L'Incendio del
Borgo. The Loggie are decorated with
a series of frescoes representing scenes
in sacred history, commonly known as
Raphael's Bible, and a profusion of in
genious ornaments imitated from an
cient Roman paintings. In spite of
these labours, which might have filled
a whole life time, Raphael found time
to paint admirable portraits, and, aided
by his pupils, to complete large pictures
such as the Madonna di San Sisto at
Dresden, the Madonna di Foligno in
the Vatican, and the Holy Family of
Francis I. in the Louvre. He began,
but left unfinished, one of his most
grandiose works, the Transfiguration,

FIG. 332. — PORTRAIT OF BALTHAZAR CASTIGLIONE.
RAPHAEL.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
ences, has a certain feminine and
impulsive character. The darling of

175

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the Papacy and of the Church, the
object of a worship from which there

FIG. 333. — THE TRANSFIGURATION.
RAPHAEL AND GIULIO ROMANO.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
was hardly any dissent down to
the middle of the nineteenth cen
tury, Raphael is now beginning to
expiate his glory, and his imprudence
in relying too much on the help of his
assistants. As is always the case in
such matters, the reaction has gone
too far. Raphael, in the Stanze and
the Loggie, shows himself the greatest
illustrator that ever lived; pagan and
Christian antiquity alike furnished him
with immortal images which realised
the ideal of the Renaissance, and have
been graven in the minds of men for
four centuries. His type of the Virgin,
half Christian, half pagan, neither too
ethereal nor too sensual, has won all
hearts, and still retains its sovereignty.
It seems as if the momentary fusion of
two hostile worlds, Paganism and
Christianity, had been brought about
by the genius of Raphael; if others

were the flowers of the Renaissance,
he was its perfect fruit.
To admit the faults of a genius is
not to discredit him. Raphael, the
marvellous creator of images, was a
mediocre colourist (save in a few por
traits much as the Balthazar Castig-
lione in the Louvre; and, though In
gres would never have allowed this, his
drawing was often commonplace and
nerveless. There is no picture by him
in which an impartial critic may not
find loose, inaccurate, and inexpres
sive contours. The work in which he
attempted to compete with Michel
angelo, the Entombment, in the Bor
ghese Gallery in Rome, has all the
frigidity of a seventeenth century
" academy." Not without reason has
the decadence of art been dated from
the apogee of Raphael's glory.
The worship of Raphael, ¦" the
divine painter," has had its day. His

FIG. 334. — THE ENTOMBMENT.
RAPHAEL.
(Borghese Gallery, Eome.)
works must now be analyzed and
judged one by. one, not as those of a
god in the form of a painter, but as the

176

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL
creations of an artist of great genius, but gain by being studied critically, not
fallible like the rest of mankind, and in the spirit of depreciation, but on
deified by irresponsible enthusiasm. the other hand, without a blind deter-
All that is truly great in his art can mination to admire at any price.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XVII.
Works and articles already quoted (pp. 146, 160) by Burckhardt, Morelli (essential
for Raphael), Romain-Rolland, Wdlfflin, and Woltmann.
J. P. Richter, Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, 2 vols., London, 1883; E. Miintz,
Leonard de Vinci, Paris, 1898; English edition, London, 1898; B. Berenson, The Floren
tine Painters, 2nd ed., London, 1900 (Leonardo); A. Rosenberg, Leonardo da Vinci, Biele-
& © ie'ld, 1898; G. Gronau, Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1903; E. MacCurdy, Leonardo da Vinci,
London, 1903; H. Cook, Le Carton de Leonard a la Royal Academy (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1897, ii., p. 37); F. Malaguzzi-Valeri, Pittori lombardi dai quattrocento, Milan, 1902;
Eth. Halsey, Gaudenzio Ferrari, London, 1903; M. Reymond, Cesare da Sesto (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1892, i., p. 314); G. Williamson, Bernardino Luini, London, 1899; P.
Gauthiez, Nouvelles recherches sur Bernardino Luini (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1903, ii.,
p. 189); Comtesse Priuli Bon, Sodoma, London, 1900.
B. Berenson, The Central Italian Painters, London, 1898 (Raphael); A. Venturi,
Gentile da Fabriano e Pisanello, Florence, 1896; L. Courajod, Legons, vol. ii., Paris, 1900
(Pisanello et les llcoles du Nord); E. Miintz, Pisanello (Revue de VArt, 1897, i. p. 67);
A. Grayer, Vittore Pisano (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1893, ii., p. 353) ; J. Williamson, Francia,
London, 1901; Mrs. Graham, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Rome, 1904; Abbe Broussolle, La
Jeunesse de Perugin et les Origines de VEcole ombrienne, Paris, 1901 ; E. Steinmann, Pin-
turicchio, Bielefeld, 1898; C. Ricci, Pintoricchio, London, 1902, 1903; A. Schmarsow;
Raphael und Pinturricchio in Siena, Berlin, 1903; F. Ehrle et E. Stevenson, Gli afreschi
del Pinturricchio nelV Appartamento Borgia, Rome, 1897 (cf. Repertorium, 1897, p 318);
A. Schmarsow, Giovanni Sanli, Berlin, 1887.
A. Rosenberg, Raff ael. Stuttgart, 1904 (reproduction of all his pictures 202 engrav
ings); A. Springer, Raffael und Michelangelo, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1895; E. Miintz, Raphael,
new. ed., Paris, 1900; English edition, London; Julia Cartwright, Raphael, London,
1895; H. Knackfuss, Raphael, 4th ed., Bielefeld, 1896; Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Rafaello
new ed., Florence, 1901; Alex. Amersdoffer. Kritische Studien uber das venezianische
Skizzenbuch (wrongly attributed to Raphael), Berlin, 1902 (cf. Repertorium, 1902, p. 130);
B. Berenson, Le Sposalizio du Musee de Caen (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, i8q6, ii., p. 2J7.);
The Study and Criticism of Italian Art, vol. ii., London, 1902; G. Gronau, Aus Raphaels
florentiner Tagen, Berlin, 1903; H. Dollmayr, Raffaels Werkstdtte (Jahrbuch of the Vienna
Museums, 1895; cf. Repertorium, 1896, p. 368); Giulio Romano und das klassische Alterlum
Vienna, 1902; Lafenestre and Richtenberger, Rome, Paris, 190-5 (detailed study of the
frescoes of Raphael in the Vatican) ; J. Klaczko, Rome and the Renaissance; the Pontificate
of Julius II., London, 1903 (English illustrated translation).
On the feminine character of Raphael's skull, see Bonner Jahrbiicher, vol. Ixxiii., p. 182.

177

XVIII
MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO
The Development of the Florentine School after Leonardo. — Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea
del Sarto, and Michelangelo. — Pontormo and Bronzino. — The Extinction of the
Florentine School caused by Michelangelo. — The Titanic Nature of Michelangelo's
Genius. — His Early Masterpieces of Sculpture. — The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.—
The Unfinished Tomb of Julius II. — The Medici Chapel, Florence. — The Fresco of
The Last Judgment, in the Sistine Chapel. — Pictures by Michelangelo. — Sebastiano
del Piombo, Daniele da Volterra, Benvenuto Cellini, Giovanni da Bologna. — Cor
reggio. — His Decoration of the Cupola of Parma Cathedral. — His Type of the Virgin.
— His Art the Expression of the Counter-Reformation.

The genius of Leonardo summed up
and dominated the second period of
the Florentine Renaissance, inaugur
ated by Masaccio's frescoes in the

FIG. 335 — MADONNA WITH SAINTS AND ANGELS.
FRA BARTOLOMMEO.
(Cathedral, Lucca.)
Carmine. But Leonardo's pupils and
imitators were all Milanese. At
Florence the development of the
school proceeded on independent

lines. In the sixteenth century it
could boast three other great names,
Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea del Sarto,
and Michelangelo.
After Botticelli, Ghirlandajo, and
Filippino Lippi, painting had to make
a certain progress in its special
domain, that of colour. The some
what crude methods of the illuminators
were to be superseded by the use of
warm, brilliant tones, brought into
harmony by chiaroscuro, and those
delicate tints, on a golden or silvery
ground, in which Venice and Brescia
excelled. Leonardo had set the
example in the employment of
chiaroscuro, though he aimed at fusion
rather than at brilliance of colour.
The first Florentine who competed
with the Venetians in this domain,
though he did not equal them, was
Baccio della Porta, the friend of
Savonarola, who became a Dominican
monk under the style of Fra Barto
lommeo, after Savonarola had ex
piated his reforming zeal at the
stake in 1498.
Fra Bartolommeo (1475-1517) had

178

MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO

another merit, the instinct for rically, for if we compare them with
rhythmic composition, scientifically similar works of the fifteenth century
balanced and pyramidally arranged. —Andrea del Castagno's Last Supper,
By virtue of this quality and of his for instance — we realise what progress
gifts as a colourist he exercised
a very happy influence on the
youthful Raphael from the year
1504 onwards. He would have
been a master of the first rank
if he had been able to create
types; unfortunately, the faces
of his personages are inexpres
sive, and lack both originality
and charm (Figs. 335, 336).
His pupil, Andrea del Sarto
(1486-1531), was a yet more
skilful colourist, the Florentine
who approached most nearly to
Giorgione. He was influenced
by Leonardo, from whom he
borrowed his sfumato, and later
by Michelangelo, always an un
healthy source of inspiration,
who gave him a taste for heavy
draperies. Andrea, although a
commonplace thinker, was a great
painter. Like Fra Bartolommeo, he
composed skilfully, and he excelled
his cqmpatriot in giving movement
to his figures, bathing them in a
soft and luminous atmosphere, and
suggesting tenderness without affec
tation. He had, further, the rare
gift of narrative, and his great mural
paintings at Florence, such as the
Birth of the Virgin in the Convent
of the Annunziata, add to their other
fine qualities that of being delightful
illustrations. His fresco of the Last
Supper, at San Salvi, near Florence, is
admirable, even if we come to it after
seeing Leonardo's great work (Figs.
337-340). These frescoes of Andrea's,
which must be studied in Tuscany,
are of the greatest importance . histo-

FIG. 336. — THE VIRGIN APPEARING TO ST. BERNARD.
FRA BARTOLOMMEO.
(Academy, Florence.)
had been made by art towards the goal
of complete emancipation. Not only
has all Gothic rigidity disappeared, but
sentiment has undergone a complete
change; harshness has given place to
sweetness, asceticism to a playful and
smiling humour. Finally, Andrea was
one of the rare artists who created a
novel and enduring type of Virgin, with
large, liquid, dark eyes, an exquisite
mingling of pride and simplicity. One
of the most beautiful examples of the
type is the Madonna delle Arpie at
Florence (1517), where the Virgin is
enthroned on a pedestal decorated
with figures of harpies (Fig. 340).
The Florentine School produced a
few more good artists, such as Pont-
ormo (i494-i556),and Bronzino (1502-
1572), who painted excellent portraits

179

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

(Fig. 341) and mannered religious
¦compositions. Broadly speaking, how-

FIG. 337. — THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN.
ANDREA DEL SARTO.
(S. Annunziata, Florence.)
ever, it ceased to exist before the
end of the sixteenth century. This
sudden extinction was not due to
political revolutions, but to the
crushing superiority of Michelangelo.
Though a Florentine, he worked
in Rome, made it the centre of

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sate
FIG. 338. — THE LAST SUPPER.
ANDREA DEL SARTO.
(S. Salvi, near Florence.)
Italian art, and, in his life-time,
founded a school which his violent
personality governed like a new ideal.
Venice alone, where Titian outlived
Michelangelo, preserved a local tradi
tion; everywhere else, Michelangelo
held undisputed sway. Florentine
art, uprooted and Romanised, died
like a luxuriant plant that has flowered
too soon, and grown too rapidly.
Michelangelo was born near Flo
rence in 1475, the same year as Fra
Bartolommeo. He died in 1564
forty-four years after Raphael, and
eighteen years after Raphael's most
active disciple, Giulio Romano.
Poet, architect, sculptor, and painter,
Michelangelo Buonarroti felt himself,
FIG. 339. — CHARITY.
ANDREA DEL SARTO.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
and claimed to be, exclusively a sculp
tor. At Rome, after 1508, when he
was painting the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel, he signed his letters ostenta
tiously: Michelangelo, Sculptor. And,
indeed, the genius he applied to paint
ing was a purely sculptural and plastic
one. To chiaroscuro, landscape, and
local colour, he was indifferent. One
thing- absorbed all his interest, man;
180
MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO

not man in the variety and mutability
of actual life, but man as he conceived
him, a sombre giant, with eloquent
gestures, brusque and vehement atti
tudes, and a formidable tension of the
muscles, which touches the limits of
possibility, even when it does not
overstep them. Michelangelo plays
with the human body as on an instru
ment, from which he continuously
draws the most piercing, strident, and
sonorous sounds. On that summit
which others only reach occasionally,
as if by accident, he maintained him
self habitually without apparent
fatigue; the exceptional became his
normal standard. Those who imitated
him without possessing his tempera
ment fell into mannerism, that is to
say, the affectation of an emotion they
did not feel. This was why the
stormy Titanism of Michelangelo was

FIG. 340. — THE MADONNA DELLE ARPLE.
ANDREA DEL SARTO.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)
more pernicious to art than the dawn
ing Academicism of Raphael.

FIG. 341. — PORTRAIT OF THE DUCHESS ELEONORA
OF TOLEDO AND HER SON FERDINAND.
BRONZINO.
(UfEzi, Florence.)

Michelangelo lived for eighty years;
he did not begin his artistic career
with the Promethean fervour of his
later life. The pupil of Ghirlandajo
and of a sculptor formed in the school
of Donatello, he was strongly influ
enced by the vigorous works of Jacopo
della Quercia (Fig. 260), and also, in
his Florentine period, by the antique
marbles of the Medici collections. The
story of his Cupid, the statue he buried
to make it pass for a Roman antique,
is well known; the work was ac
claimed with all the more fervour
because its admirers thought it was
fifteen centuries old. But Michel
angelo's genius had nothing in com
mon with antique art save the pre
dilection for certain types. Serenity
was unknown to him, and all tradition
was intolerable to him. This is ap
parent even in his early masterpieces
(Figs. 342, 343) : the Pieta, in St.
Peter's, Rome (1498), the Virgin and
¦ Child, at Bruges (1501), and the David,

l8l

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

PIG. 342. — PIETA.
MICHELANGELO.
(St. Peter's, Rome.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
at Florence (1504). The David, a
masterpiece of anatomy, seems to some
critics to offend against taste, but the
two Madonnas are admirable, and

FIG. 343. — HEAD OF THE DAVID.
MICHELANGELO.
(Academy, Florence.)
reveal a great genius already mature.
Michelangelo boldly placed the naked

body of Jesus on the knees of a draped
Madonna, winning a very striking
effect from this contrast. The Virgin
suffers in silence; she is too proud
and too majestic for tears. The con
ception of the Bruges group is no less
bold. The Child is not on his mother's
lap. This was the traditional atti
tude, and Michelangelo accordingly

FIG. 344. — FRAGMENT OF CEILING IN THE
SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME.
MICHELANGELO.

rejected it. He stands between her
knees, a sturdy, thoughtful boy. She,
too, is robust and thoughtful, display
ing neither emotion nor tenderness,
but vibrating with restrained move
ment. The fingers of her right hand,
which hold a book, seem to quiver.
All the genius of Michelangelo is al
ready present in these works, for those
who look at them with knowledge.
Pope Julius 1 1., the most energetic

182

MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO

of the successors of St. Peter, was
worthy to understand and admire such

FIG. 345- — MOSES.
MICHELANGELO.
(Church of S. Pielro in Vincoli, Rome.)
a man. In 1508 he commissioned
him to decorate the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The
vast work, carried out by Michelangelo
in four years, is unrivalled and even

FIG. 346. — JEREMIAH.
MICHELANGELO.
(Sistine Chapel, Rome.)
unapproached in the history of paint
ing. These scenes from the Old Testa

ment, these Prophets, Sibyls, and seated
Slaves, resemble nothing the world
had ever seen (Figs. 344-346). These
colossal, statuesque figures, resplend
ent with muscular strength and athletic
effort, in attitudes disconcertingly bold
and novel, are the representatives of a
race at once human and superhuman,

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FIG. 347. — FETTERED SLAVE.
MICHELANGELO. (The Louvre.)
in which Michelangelo realised his
vision of wild energy and grandeur.
Entrusted with the execution of the
tombs of Julius II. , and of the Medici
at Florence, Michelangelo carried the
truculent visions of the Sistine Chapel
into his chosen domain of sculpture.
The tomb of Julius was never finished;
the Moses sculptured for it, and now
in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli
in Rome, is an extraordinary creation
full of " repressed movement" * and
1 A very apt term used by H. Wolfflin.
See his The Art of the Italian Renaissance,
Heinemann, London.

I83

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 348. — GIULIANO DEI
MEDICI.
(II Pensieroso.)
(Medici Chapel, Florence.) rence

vibrating with wrath and passion, the
sublimity of which affects one like
some great natural spectacle (Fig.
345). Two of the
Slaves designed
for the tomb are
among the most
precious posses-
sions of the
Louvre; they are
standing figures,
but bent, twisted
and oblique,
marking the ex
treme of reaction
against primitive
art, in which the
law of frontality
prevailed (F i g.
347). The Medici
Chapel at Flo-
was also
left unfinished.
Michelangelo completed only the two
niches, where the seated statues of Lor
enzo and Giuliano dei Medici (Fig.
348) dominate two groups of figures
reclining on the sarcophagi, Morning
and Evening, Day and Night. The
seated princes are not portraits, but
personifications of melancholy power;
they are like two Prophets descended
from the Sistine ceiling, and like them
are robust, sombre, and contemplative
(Fig. 346). A still higher degree of
strength, a strength which finds ex
pression in impatient contortions,
characterises the four reclining figures,
whose audacious attitudes and violent
play of muscle provoke both admira
tion and stupefaction (Fig. 349).
On his return to Rome, Michelangelo,
at the request of Pope Paul III., began,
in ^S, to paint the Last Judgment on
the end wall of the Sistine Chapel

(Fig. 350). This colossal fresco, on
which he worked for seven years, is a
mistake, as a whole; but it is the most
complete expression of his genius. In
it he exhausted all the possibilities of
movement and of line, creating a
sinister world of exasperated giants,
some victorious, others vanquished,
all naked and muscular as athletes.
Christian sentiment is conspicuously
absent from this conception, which is
like the nightmare of some fevered
Titan. What trace of Christianity is
to be seen in the avenging Christ with
his herculean frame, and the terrified
Virgin who cowers beside her Son?
The sublimity of the Last Judgment
verges on insanity; neither ^Eschylus,
nor Dante, nor Victor Hugo ever
carried the audacity of substituting
personal vision for a chosen subject
to such lengths as this.
There are very few pictures by
Michelangelo (Fig. 351), and the most

FIG. 349. — MORNING.
MICHELANGELO.
(Medici Chapel, Florence.)
famous of his cartoons, executed for the
city of Florence in 1505, has perished.

184

MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO

Fortunately, Marc Antonio, the en
graver, the friend of Raphael, engraved
a fragment of it, representing
Florentine soldiers surprised
by the Pisans while bathing
(Fig- 352). Antique art has
given us nothing superior to
these naked bodies in their
athletic vigor, and the ele
gance that sets off their
strength. If this engraving
were all we had by which
to judge Michelangelo, we
should recognise the giant
in it, as we know the lion by
its paw.
The Venetian, Sebastiano
del Piombo, owed the epic
grandeur of his Resurrection
of Lazarus in the National Gal
lery to Michelangelo's collaboration
(Fig. 285). One o£ Michelangelo's
pupils, Daniele da Volterra, imitat
ing his master, achieved the sub-

353). A sculptor of the same school,
who was also a goldsmith and chaser

FIG. 351. — HOLY FAMILY.
MICHELANGELO.
(Uffizi, Florence.)

lime in the great Crucifixion of the
Church of the Trinita, at Rome (Fig.

FIG. 350. — ANGELS BEARING THE CROSS.
MICHELANGELO.
(Fragment from the Fresco of the Last Judgment.)
(Sistine Chapel, Rome.)

of metal, Benvenuto Cellini (1500-
15.72), and an adventurer and char
latan to boot, rose to great heights
in his Victorious Perseus (Fig. 354)
at Florence, inspired both by Dona
tello and Michelangelo. Giovanni da
Bologna (Boulogne in France and
not Bologna), a French sculptor,
settled in Italy, was the author of an
admirable Mercury taking Flight, in
which both Michelangelo and the
classic sculptors are imitated (Fig.
355). But with very few exceptions, the
crowd that made up the other disciples
of the master did nothing but imitate
his gestures, dislocate colossal figures
for no apparent reason, and, " running
amok " in cold blood, overstep the
narrow boundary that separates the
sublime from the ridiculous.
Younger by some twenty years than
Michelangelo, whom he nevertheless
predeceased by thirty years, a Parme
san painter, Antonio Allegri, called
Correggio, exercised almost as great
an influence over the Italian art of the

185

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 352. — GROUP KNOWN AS 'THE CLIMBERS.
(From Marc Antonio Raimondi's Engraving after a
Fragment of the Cartoon by Michelangelo,
The Pisan War.)

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
He seems to have been formed in the
School of Ferrara, and to have been
the pupil of the painter, Bianchi, of
whom there is a beautiful example in

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FIG. 353. — THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.
DANIELE DA VOLTERRA.
(Church of S. Trinita dei Monti, Rome.)
(Photo, by Anderson, Rome.)

the Louvre. He was of a gentle, sen
suous temperament, equally attracted
by the romantic myths of pagan
ism, and the pious legends of Christi
anity. He treated both in the same
spirit, and with the same delight in
flickering and caressing light, mellow,
vaporous forms, and the languorous
softness of chiaroscuro. Leonardo
inspired him first, then Michelangelo.
From the latter he took his taste for
aerial movement, for figures hovering

FIG. 354. — PERSEUS.
BENVENUTO CELLINI.
(Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.)
in mid-air, soaring overhead, riding
on clouds, dumbfounding the spec
tator by foreshortenings that seem
incredible, and are perfectly true to
nature. These audacities of draughts
manship were a strange innovation in
religious painting, but one to which
Italian taste speedily reconciled itself.
To this sentiment Michelangelo, who
was a painter to his finger-tips, and
had none of the sculptor's severity,
we owe one of the great achievements

186

MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO

of art, the decorations of the dome of
Parma Cathedral, where the Virgin
ascends in the midst of saints borne up
heavenwards like herself; a tumult of
legs and fluttering draperies, domi
nated by ecstatic heads in perspective.
Of the pictures which shed lustre
on his brief career, the most charac
teristic are those, of Parma and Dres
den (Figs. 356, 357), in which there

FIG. 355. — MERCURY TAKING FLIGHT.
GIOVANNI DA BOLOGNA.
(Bargello, Florence.)
is a good deal of Francia and of
Michelangelo, but above all of Cor
reggio, that is to say, of a soul en
thralled by beauty, light, and joy, and
carrying its worship for loveliness to
the very verge of effeminacy. His
two pictures in the Louvre, one es
sentially profane, the Jupiter and An-
tiope, the other full of tender senti
ment, if not of religious feeling, the
Marriage of St. Catherine (Fig. 358),
give an almost perfect idea of his

FIG. 356. — FRAGMENT OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD
WITH ST. JEROME,
CORREGGIO.
(Parma Gallery.)
genius; the same may be said of
the two analogous works in the Na
tional Gallery, the Mercury instructing
Cupid, and the delightful little Ma
donna della Casta. He created a type
of Virgin of exquisite but superficial
charm, the influence of which was the

riG. 357. — VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. GEORGE.
CORREGGIO.
(Dresden Gallery.)
more far-reaching in that, on the
morrow of the Reformation, it har-

I87

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

monised with the new departure of
Catholicism. The Catholic Renaissance, provoked
by the schism of Luther towards 1540,
had nothing in common with the

FIG. 358. — THE MYSTIC MARRIAGE OF
ST. CATHERINE.
CORREGGIO.
(The Louvre.)
triumphant and dogmatic religion of
the Middle Ages. The task in hand was
not to govern minds, but to win hearts.
The shrewd and energetic Popes who
saved Catholicism from ruin, and
helped it to regain the ground lost

during the first years of the Reforma
tion, had as their auxiliaries, the
Jesuits, who made religion easy, and
the artists, who made it attractive.
In contrast to austere Protestantism,
the enemy of art, to whom mystic
fervours were suspect, and who sought
to restrict the way of salvation, the
Counter-Reformation decked the old
Roman creed with all the seduction of
beauty accessible to the multitude,
with all the blandishments of devo
tion and ecstacy. The art which it
protected and which grew up under
its influence, notably in Italy and
Spain, is typified in church architec
ture by the Jesuit style, and in
painting by the somewhat sensual
mysticism, the first examples of which
were furnished by Correggio. There
is nothing here which resembles the
great Christian art of the Middle
Ages, nor even that of the fifteenth
century, which, while it borrowed
forms from Paganism, remained
austere and Christian in thought.
To this very day, popular religious
illustrations, multiplied ad infinitum
by chromo - lithography, must be
finally referred to the master who
painted the Antiope, to the decorator
of the cupola in Parma cathedral.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XVIII.

Works already quoted, pp. 160, 177, by Berenson (more especially The Drawings oj
Florentine Painters) , by Burckhardt, by Miintz and by Woermann. — C. Cornelius, Jacopo
della Quercia, Halle, 1896 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1897, ii., p. 172) ; A. Michel, Madone
et Enfant de Jacopo della Querela au Louvre (Monuments Piot, vol. iii., p. 261) ; H. Grimm,
Leben Michel- Angelo' s, ioth ed., 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1901; H. Knackfuss, Michel-Angelo,
3rd ed., Bielefeld, 1896; J. A. Symonds, The Life of Michelangelo, 3rd ed., 2 vols., London,
1899; H. Wolfnin, Die Jugendwerke des Michelangelo, Leipzig, 1891; Die Klassische Kunst,
Munich, 1899; English trans. (The Art of the Italian Renaissance) , London, 1903; C. Justi,
Michelangelo, Leipzig, 1900; C. Ricci, Michel-Ange, trad. Crozals, Florence, 1902; Ch.
Holroyd, Michelangelo, London, 1903; C. Strutt, Michael Angelo, London, 1903; R. Suther-
188

MICHELANGELO AND CORREGGIO
land Gower, Michael Angela, London, 1903; H. Thode, Michel Angelo und das Ende der
Renaissance, vols. i. and ii., Berlin, 1903-1904; IC. Lange, Der schlafende Amor des Michel
angelo, Leipzig, 1898; E. Molinier, Benvenulo Cellini, Paris, 1894.-
Burlington Club, School of Ferrara-Bologna, London, 1894 (very important for Cor
reggio, but not in circulation); H. Cook, Francesco Bianchi-Ferrari (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1901, i., p. 376; cf. for the School of Ferrara, Venturi, Jahrbiicher of the Berlin
Museums, 1887, p. 71; 1888, p. 3); H. Thode, Correggio, Bielefeld, 1898; C. Ricci, Cor
reggio, London, 1897; B. Berenson, Study and Criticism oj Italian Art, London, 1901
(p. 20, Correggio); S. Brinton, Correggio, London, 1900; J. Strzygowski, Das Werden des
Barock bei Raphael und Correggio, Strasburg, 1898.

189

XIX

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND IN FLANDERS
The Union of Flanders and Burgundy. — The Valois Dukes of Burgundy and their Pa
tronage of Artists. — The Rise of the School of Burgundy at Dijon. — The Early French
Renaissance Checked by National Calamity. — Flanders in Advance of Italy at the
Beginning of the 15th Century. — Early Flemish Artists. — Claux Sluter and his Works
at Dijon. — The Brothers Limbourg. — The Book oj Hours at Chantilly. — The Painter
Malouel. — The Affinity between the Flemish and Italian Primitives. — The Recip
rocal Influence of the Two Schools. — The Supposed Invention of the Oil Medium
by Van Eyck. — The Brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck. — The Polyptich of the
"Adoration of the Lamb." — The Masterpieces of Jan van Eyck. — His Pupils: Albert
van Ouwater, Thierry Bouts, Roger van der Weyden. — The Flemish School at its
Apogee. — Jacques Daret, Simon Marmion. — Hugo van der Goes, and the Portinari
Altar-piece. — Memling, Gerard David, Quentin Matsys. — The Italianised Flem
ings. — Mabuse, B. van Orley. — The Realists: Jerome Bosch, Breughel the Elder. —
The Realistic Tendencies of Flemish Art. — The Franco-Flemish School at Paris,
Avignon, and the Court of King Rene. — Froment, Jean Fouquet. — The Clouets. —
The School of Fontainebleau. — Michel Colombe, Germain Pilon and Barthelemy
Prieur. — Jean Goujon. — The Rise of the Dutch School. — The Leyden Painters:
Engelbrechtsen and Lucas van Leyden.

In 1361, Jean le Bon, King of
France (1350-1364), inherited the
Duchy of Burgundy on the death of
the last native Duke, Philippe de
Rouvre. He gave this fair domain to

FIG. 359. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH PHILIPPE
LE HARDI AND MARGUERITE OF FLANDERS
ADORING.
CLAUX SLUTER.
(Porch of the Chartreuse of Champmol, near Dijon.)
his fourth son, Philippe le Hardi, who
married Marguerite, heiress of the

Counts of Flanders, and thus Bur
gundy and Flanders were united in
1384. This union lasted throughout the
reigns of the princes of the House of
Valois, who were all zealous protectors
of art and artists, Jean Sans Peur
(1404- 1419), Philippe le Bon
(1419-1467), Charles le Temeraire
(1467-1477). Very close relations
were established between Burgundy,
Flanders, France, and Italy; many
Flemish artists came to work at
Dijon, and there founded the School
of Burgundy, which is but a branch of
the Flemish School, itself a graft on
the French Gothic trunk.
The eldest son of Jean le Bon, who
reigned in France under the name of
Charles V. (1364-1380), was a great
lover of books and works of art. His

190

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

court painter was Jean Bandol of
Bruges, the author of the cartoons

FIG. 360. — THE WELL OF MOSES.
CLAUX SLUTER.
(Chartreuse of Champmol, near Dijon.)

Burgundy, and it was there, and not
in Paris, that the Franco-Flemish
Renaissance culminated.
Gothic art had developed in
Flanders together with the wealth of
the country, which, from the beginning
of the fourteenth century, excited the
wonder and the envy of all Europe.
About 1390, Melchior Broederlam, of
Ypres, painter to Philippe le Hardi,
painted the shutters of a carved
reredos preserved at Dijon. At the
same time, a sculptor of genius, Claux
Sluter, arrived from Flanders in
Burgundy. He left there some master
pieces of expressive realism, notably
the porch of the Carthusian Mon
astery of Champmol, near Dijon
(Fig. 359), and (in the same place)
the famous Well of Moses, the hex
agonal base of a Calvary, each com
partment of which is ornamented with

for the tapestries in Angers Cathedral.
Another son of Jean le Bon, Jean
Due de Berry, who died in 1416,
surrounded himself with a brilliant
court at Bourges, and collected a
magnificent library of manuscripts
illuminated by Flemish artists, a good
number of whom worked in Paris.
This city was the great artistic and
intellectual centre of Europe at the
end of the fourteenth century. Flem
ish art, a little heavy in Flanders and
Burgundy, had taken on a character
of urbanity and refinement in Paris,
which manifested itself in the minia
tures of manuscripts. A brilliant
French Renaissance was about to
unfold there, when the Civil War
(1410), the disaster of Agincourt
(1415), and the Treaty of Troyes
(1420), plunged France into mourning.
Art took flight towards the Duchy of

FIG. 361. — THE DUC DE BERRY AT TABLE.
PAUL DE LIMBOURG.
(Miniature from the Book of Hours, at Chantilly.)
(Chantilly, Plon, Nourrit and Co., Paris.) '
statues of prophets (Fig. 360). The
group of the Virgin and Child, the

191

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

smiling and somewhat silly figure of
the Due de Bourgogne and that of

FIG. 362. — TOMB OF PHILIPPE POT, SENESCHAL
OF BURGUNDY.
(The Louvre.)
Marguerite of Flanders, are admira
ble details which worthily sustain
the great tradition of the imagiers.
The Moses is a mighty figure, at
once scriptural and realistic. All
this was finished before 1405 ; now
Ghiberti's beauti
ful gates for the
Baptistery at Flo
rence are later by
thirty years, and
Masaccio was not
born till 1401. It
is, therefore, evi
dent that at the
beginning of the
fifteenth century,
Flanders was
greatly in advance
of Italy.
And this was
not only true as
regards sculpture.
Before 1416, the
date of the Due
de Berry's death,
Paul de Limbourg and his brothers il
luminated the exquisite Book of Hours

FIG. 363. — CHOIR OF
ANGELS.
HUBERT AND JAN VAN
EYCK.
(Museum, Berlin.)

which is the glory of the Musee Conde
at Chantilly (Fig. 361). This was no
isolated masterpiece. There is in the
Louvre a Trinity by the Guelderlander
Malouel, probably the uncle of the
Limbourgs, who was working in Paris
about 1400. In this many of the finest
qualities of the Book of Hours are fore
shadowed. We
must there-
fore look upon
it as a product
of the Pari-
s i a n Renais-
s a n c e, born
from the con
tact of Flem
ish artists with
the taste and
refinement that
distinguishedthe court of
the Valois.
At this pe-
r i o d (1400-
1410), Franco-
Flemish art
had spread
th roug hou t
France, and
invaded the
valley of the
Rhine. Social
and commercial
carried it beyond
note that the
assassinated a Visconti,
About the
Hardi was
and ivories;
Verona, was
other hand, Flemish art was finding
its way into Italy, and this migratory
movement continued throughout the

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FIG. 364,— VIRGIN READING.
HUBERT VAN EYCK.
(Fragment of the Polyptich
The Adoration of the
Lamb.)
(Church of St. Bavon,
Ghent.)
intercourse soon
the Alps; we may
Duke of Orleans,
in 1407, had married
Valentina of Milan.
year 1400, Philippe le
buying Italian medals
an Italian, Pietro of
his librarian. On the
IQ2
THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

fifteenth century. The artistic affini
ties of the Limbourgs, the Van Eycks,
Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello are
obvious. Now it is more than prob
able that the more advanced civilisa
tion, that of Flanders, did not borrow
everything from the tardy civilisation
of Italy. It may even be that the
realistic influence of Flemish art had
its share- in Masaccio's reaction
against Giottism. These are points
that are a good .deal discussed just
now, and that will no doubt be
presently solved.
Although the sculptors of the
Flemish Renaissance left us many
important works which upheld the
tradition of Claux Sluter — it will be
enough to give as examples the tombs

Pot in the Louvre (Fig. 362) — I shall
confine myself here to painting, the

1/

FIG. 365.-

-THE JUST JUDGES AND THE KNIGHTS
OF CHRIST.

HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK.
(Shutters of the Altar-piece, The Adoration
of the Lamb.)
(Museum, Berlin.)

of the Dukes of Burgundy at Dijon
and at Bruges, and that of Philippe

FIG. 366. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH A
CARTHU.SIAN DONOR.
HUBERT OR JAN VAN EYCK.
(G. de Rothschild's Collection, Paris.)
(Photo, by Levy and Son.)
art in which its genius was most brill
iantly manifested.
The Italians of the middle of the
fifteenth century were well aware that
the Flemish painters had no com
peers; they collected their works
eagerly, and sent them many pupils.1
Common opinion even attributed the
invention of oil-painting to the Van
Eycks, though the method had
been known since the twelfth cen
tury, and the Flemings had merely
perfected drying mediums, and given
a new splendour and intensity to
colour. Superior as the Italians were
to the Flemings in the decorative
style, they admitted their inferiority
in the rendering of life. Later on
opinion became less equitable, and
even somewhat oblivious. It was only
1 In 1460, Bianca Maria Sforza, Duchess
of Milan, sent the youthful painter Zanetto
Bugatto to Brussels, to study in Roger van
der Weyden's atelier. In 1463, Zanetto re
turned and the Duchess wrote to Roger to
thank him. (Malaguzzi Valeri, Pittori
Lombardi, Milan, 1902.)

193

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

in the nineteenth century that full
justice began to be rendered to those
admirable artists, the Van Eycks,
Roger van der Weyden, Hugo van der
Goes, Thierry Bouts, Memling, Ger
ard David, Albert van Ouwater and
Quentin Matsys.
The great altar-piece of the Adora
tion of the Lamb at Ghent was all,
and even more, to Flemish painting,

FIG. 367. — JAN ARNOLFINI AND HIS WIFE.
JAN VAN EYCK.
(National Gallery, London.)
that Masaccio's frescoes were to the
Italian School. This work, now
divided between the towns of Ghent,
Brussels, and Berlin, was begun about
the year 1415 by Hubert van Eyck,
and finished in 1432 by his brother
Jan. It is not easy to assign to each
brother his part in the work; but I
am inclined to think that Jan's share
was confined to the two magnificent
portraits of the donors. The angels
playing musical instruments, the pro
cessions of the Soldiers of Christ and
of the Just Judges, the figures of Adam

and Eve, the great central panel,
which is all that remains at Ghent,
moved Fromentin to say that in this
work art had achieved perfection in a
first effort (Figs. 363-365)- But the
miniatures in the Chantilly Book of
Hours, which were unknown to
Fromentin, attest that the Van Eycks
had their peers. It is quite evident
that they were not the disciples of

FIG. 36S. — THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.
A. VAN OUWATER.
(Museum, Berlin.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
the brothers Limbourg; the two
achievements were contemporary
manifestations of two kindred styles,
the one (that of the Van Eycks),
purely Flemish, the other modified by
Sienese influences, and refined by a
Parisian environment.
Jan van Eyck, born about 1385,
was employed by Philippe le Bon on
various diplomatic missions. He
visited Portugal, Spain, and the
Hague. There is nothing to show
that he was ever in Italy. From 1432
to 1440, he painted a whole series of

194

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

signed and dated pictures, among
them such incomparable portraits as

FIG. 369. — ST. FRANCIS RECEIVING THE STIGMATA.
(Museum, Turin.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
those of his wife, of Canon Van de
Paele at Bruges, and of the Arnolfini
couple in the National Gallery (Fig.
367). The great picture at Bruges,
in which Van de Paele appears as
donor, enable us to appreciate both
the greatness of Jan's genius and its
limitations. He has no religious
sentiment, no fervour; the Virgin is
ugly, the Infant Jesus sickly; the St.
George is a peasant in armour. But
Jan van Eyck is the greatest por
traitist of all time. Never did keener
eye scrutinise the living form, never
did more skilful hand fix its image
on the panel.
There is also a little series of
unsigned pictures, nearly all master
pieces, which are ascribed sometimes
to Jan, sometimes to Hubert. Two
of the most perfect of them are in
Paris; one, in the Louvre, represents
Rolin, Chancellor of Philippe le Bon,
kneeling before the Virgin and Child,
against a marvellous landscape back
ground; the other, in M. Gustave

Rothschild's collection, shows the
Vicar of the Carthusian monastery
of St. Anne at Bruges, Hermann
Steenken, before the Virgin, St. Anne,
and St. Barbara, with the same land
scape as the first. There is a third
panel from the same atelier at Turin
(Figs. 366, 369).
During their long sojourn at the
Hague, the two Van Eycks must have
formed a certain number of pupils; the
best known of these is Albert van
Ouwater, the author of. a masterpiece,
The Resurrection of Lazarus, in the
Berlin Museum (Fig. 368), which his
pupil, Gerard (Geertgen), of Haarlem
successfully imitated in a picture ac
quired by the Louvre in 1902. With
these Dutchmen we must class a
Haarlemer,. Thierry Bouts (1420-1475),
who was perhaps a fellow-pupil of

FIG. 370.

-THE MEETING OF ABRAHAM AND
MELCHISEDECK.

THIERRY BOUTS.
(Pinatothek, Munich.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann,
Leipzig.)
Ouwater's and who worked at
Louvain about 1459. He was an artist
95 °2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

whose vigour of temperament verged
on brutality, whose realism led him
into deliberate ugliness, and his desire
for brilliance into crudity of colour.
His best works, such as the judgment
of Otho at Brussels, are extraordinary
in their intensity of tone and ex
pression, but better in drawing and
painting than in composition - (Figs.
370, 372).
Between 1435 and 1464, a painter
of Tournai, Roger de la Pasture (in
Flemish, Van der Weyden) worked at
Brussels. It is very doubtful that he
was a pupil of the Van Eycks; in any
case, if he resembles them in his
technique, his. was a different and even
a dissimilar genius. Where the Van
Eycks aimed at calm and serene
grandeur, Van der Weyden strove for
pathos. He had the religious and
dramatic sentiment, the gifts of ten
derness and emotion, a taste for
sinuous, even tortuous and dislo
cated lines, which express the
strong emotions of the soul. His

is one of the masterpieces of art (Fig.
371); other pictures by ¦ him are at

FIG. 371. — THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.
K. VAN DER WEYDEN.
(Museum, Madrid.)
(Photo, by Lacoste.)
Descent from the Cross, in the Es-
corial, with a good replica at Madrid,

FIG. 372. — THE JUSTICE OF THE EMPEROR OTHO.
(Museum, Brussels.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
Antwerp, Berlin, and the hospital of
Beaune. Between 1450 and 1480, the Flemish
School, then at its apogee, produced a
long series of prodigies. The first was
a Tournay pupil of Van der Weyden's,
Jacques Daret, known until quite
lately as the Master of Merode, or of
Flemalle,1 the author of an admirable
Crucifixion and of a Virgin and Child
at Frankfort (Fig. 373). Then Simon
Marmion of Amiens, who, about the
year 1455, painted the Life of St.
Ber tin (in the castle of Wied), and
illuminated a manuscript of the
Grandes Chroniques de France, pre-
1 From a Belgian collection, and from a
Flemish abbey which contained some of
his works. The identity of this master
with Jacques Daret is probable, but has
not been established.

I96

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

sented to Philippe le Bon by the
Abbe de St. Bertin, with exquisite
miniatures (Fig. 374). About 1470,
the Zeelander, Hugo van der Goes,
painted for Tommaso Portinari, the
agent of the Medici at Bruges, a
colossal Nativity (Fig. 376), which
Portinari presented to the hospital at
Florence, and from which the Italian
painters, Lorenzo di Credi, Ghirlan-
dajo, etc., hastened to copy details.
Finally, from 1468 to 1489, Memling
produced his exquisite series of por
traits and large religious composi
tions (Fig. 375, T,yy). ,1s there a
more fascina
ting, achieve
ment in all
the domain of
painting than
the Shrine of
St. Ursula at
Bruges? If we
except those
of Van Eyck,
what portraits
are superior
to Memling's?
He was, in
deed, the Ra
phael of Flem-
i s h art, the
man in whom
all the gentler
gifts of his
school were
combined to
the exclusion
of all that was
harsh and
brutal. Infe
rior to Van
der Weyden in his mastery of ex
pressive line, and to Jan van Eyck
in solid and plastic realism, the

heir of the miniaturists rather than
of the painters, he is the most attrac-

FIG.373. — V1RCIN AND CHILD.
JACQUES DARET (?)
(called the Master of
Flemalle.)
(Museum, Frankfort.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)

FIG. 374. — THE BISHOP GUILLAUME FILLATRE
PRESENTS THE VOLUME TO PHILIPPE LE BON.
SIMON MARMION.
(Frontispiece of a Manuscript in the Library at
St. Petersburg.)
tive, if not the most original, of all
these gifted masters.
Memling had a successor at Bruges,
Gerard David, who flourished from
1488 to 1509. His masterpiece, a Vir
gin surrounded by Saints, is at Rouen
(Fig. 378) ; we note therein not only a
return to the types of Van :Eyck,
but somewhat alarming , indications
of Italian influence. These are also
apparent in the works of the Antwerp
master, Quentin Matsys (1466-1530);
but Van der Weyden's tradition is
maintained in his Descent, from the
Cross at Antwerp, his St. Anne at
Brussels (Fig. 380)*, and his head of
the stricken Virgin in the National
Gallery. There is an idealistic ele
ment in Matsys' art, though he ap
pears as a realist, and even a satirist
upon occasions (Fig. 379), but he did
not attempt to imitate the Italians.

197

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Unfortunately, the Flemings were
stirred to emulation by the glory of
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and
Michelangelo. Certain very gifted
painters, such as Jan Gossaert of
Maubeuge (called Mabuse) and Ba-
rendt van Orley, went to Italy and
brought back a style which harmon
ised ill with that they had received
from native masters (Fig. 382).

FIG. 375. — ARRIVAL OF ST. URSULA AT ROME.
(Shrine of St. Ursula.)
(Hospital of Bruges.)
It is unnecessary to linger over these
hybrid, though often fascinating,
works, in which Italian idealism, the
imitation of the' antique, and Flemish
realism are, associated but not assimi
lated. These '" Italianised painters
reigned . supreme throughout the
second half of the sixteenth century,
and had at least this merit, that they
prepared the way for Rubens. Side
by side with them, as if in reaction,
other Flemings were following a very
different path, delighting in jests and
satires, painting and working for the
people. These racy and spirited

FIG. 376. — THE NATIVITY.
HUGO VAN DER GOES.
(Academy, Florence.)'
(Photo, by Alinari.)
realists, Jerome Bosch (Fig. 381) and
the elder Breughel prepared the way
for the. Dutch Little Masters of the
seventeenth century, who were to raise
genre-painting to the level of great
art. This tendency to give poetry to

FIG. 377. — PORTRAIT OF MARTIN VAN
NEWENHOVEN.
(Hospital of St. John, Bruges.)
realities, rather than to realise a con
ventional ideal, is prominent through-

198

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

out the whole course of Flemish art.
Painters were obliged to paint sacred
pictures, Virgins, Angels and Martyrs,
because their clients asked for these;
but how clearly they show that all of
them, even Memling himself, would
gladly have painted anything else!
The things that interest them, that
they study and render most lovingly,
are figures of donors, rich stuffs,
distant glimpses of landscape. They
are never so great as when they
escape from the bondage of the given

Provence. The establishment of the
Papal court at Avignon in 1309, had

FIG. 378. — THE VIRGIN SURROUNDED BY SAINTS.
GERARD DAVID.
(Museum, Rouen.)
(Photo, by Petiton.)
theme. There is one exception to this
rule — Roger van der Weyden. But
we know he had made a pilgrimage to
Rome, and that he lived for a time at
Ferrara. He was the sole mystic
among the numerous Flemish painters
of religious subjects.
The French branch of Flemish art
in the fifteenth century followed a
similar course, i save that the realistic
tendency here was early tempered by
the essentially French instinct for
sobriety and elegance. At the close
of the fourteenth century, Paris was an
artistic centre of the first rank. About
1410, the misfortunes that befell the
monarchy scattered the artists of the
capital to Burgundy, Touraine, and

FIG. 370. — THE BANKER AND HIS WIFE.
QUENTIN MATSYS.
created a centre of Italian art in the
city, round which a local school soon
grew .up; the masterpiece of this
school is 'the large Pieta of the hospital

FIG. 380. — THE VIRGIN AND ST. ANNE.
QUENTIN MATSYS.
(Brussels Museum.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
of Villeneuve (1470). Froment of
Avignon, the painter of the Burning

199

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 381. — THE JUGCLER.
JEROME BOSCH.
(Museum, St. Germain-en-Laye.)
(Photo, by Levy and Son.)
Bush (Fig. 383), in the Cathedral
of Aix, worked at the court of
Rene of Anjou (1417-1480), who
established himself in Provence after
losing Naples and Sicily. This is a

FIG. 382. — V1RCIN AND CHILD.
JAN GOSSAERT, CALLED MABUSE.
(Museum, Berlin.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
Flemish work in which Italian
influences are already very strongly

marked (1476). During the reigns of
Charles VII. and Louis XI. a very
great artist flourished in France, Jean
Fouquet (1415-1485), who was in
Italy about 1445, and later at Tours.
There are powerful portraits by him
at Paris and at Berlin, and at Chan
tilly an admirable series of forty
miniatures, painted about 1455 for the

FIG. 383. — THE BURNING BUSH.
NICHOLAS FROMENT OF AVIGNON.
(Cathedral of Aix.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
Book of Hours of Etienne Chevalier
(Fig. 384). The decorative elements of
these little pictures are Italian to some
extent, but the sentiment is purely
French, and suggests a gentler Van
Eyck. The colour is delicate, but
lacking in brilliance, and occasionally
in harmony. The school of the Bour-
bonnais, of which we are only' just
beginning to learn something, was
formed under the influences of those
of Touraine and Provence. A large
picture in the Cathedral of Moulins,
perhaps by Jean Perreal, painter to

200

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

Charles VIII. shows strong Italian
influences, together with a native taste
for a somewhat mannered grace and
pale, delicately shaded colours (Fig.
385). A family of painters of Dutch
origin, the Clouets, produced a large
number of portraits from the time
of Frangois I. to that of Henri
III., both in oils and crayons, in
which lightness of touch, learned
precision of line, and contempt for
unnecessary detail, presage the quali
ties of the classic spirit as manifested
in France in the seventeenth century
(Fig. 386). These fine portraits, so non-
insistent, so reticent, and yet so deli
cately psychological, seem "made up of
nothing" like Racine's tragedies. The
Italians summoned to France in 1531-
1532, Rosso and Primaficcio, busied
themselves mainly in propagating the
defects of the School of Michelangelo,
but their imitators, who formed the
so-called School of Fontainebleau,

school, which is well represented at
the Louvre and at Rouen (Fig. 387).

WWWBWWSFWTf ^JiWfSffiW^

FIG. 384 — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
J. FOUQUET.
(Miniature in the Musee Condi?, Chantilly.)
(Photo, by Braun, Clement et Cie.)
Their authors speak Italian, but with
a strong French accent.
In sculpture Italianism
first invaded decoration,
then bas-relief and statu
ary; but, here again, down
to the end of the sixteenth
century, the French ele
ment predominated, in the
works of Michel Colombe
(d. 1512), Germain Pilon,
and Barthelemy Prieur, the
contemporaries of Cathe
rine de' Medici and Henri
IV. (Figs. 388, 389). The

most Italian, and also, per
haps, the most gifted of
the artists of this period,
was Jean Goujon, whose
nymphs on the Fontaine
remained French rather than Italian. des Innocents in Paris (1550) and
This is evident in the pictures of the the portal of the Louvre which bears
201

FIG. 385. — TRTPTYCH PRESENTED BY PIERRE II. DE BOURBON
AND ANNE DE BEAUJEU TO THE CATHEDRAL OF
MOULINS.
(By a French Master, perhaps Jean Perreal.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

his name, are among the most delight
ful works of the Franco-Italian Re
naissance (Fig.
390). These
are decorative
sculptures; but
the portraits of
the period, espe
cially those of
dead persons
kneeling, are
inspired rather
by the French
imagiers than
by Italian mo
dels. French
art was never
completely Italianised, even under
Louis XIV.; the history of national
resistance to foreign taste may be
followed throughout the seventeenth
century. At the beginning of the sixteenth
century, a very individual school of
Dutch painting arose. The centre of
this school was Leyden, where Engel-

FIG. 386.  PORTRAIT OF
HENRI n.
F. CLOUET.
(The Louvre.)

FIG. 3S7. — DIANA AND HER NYMPHS.
(School of Fontainebleau.)
(Museum, Rouen.)
(Photo, by Petiton.)
brechtsen (d. 1533). the master of
Lucas van Leyden (1494 -1533)
worked. Few pictures by Lucas have
survived; the most , important is the

Last Judgment in Leyden Museum.
But he left nearly two hundred en
gravings, which will bear comparison
with those of Diirer himself (Fig.
392). His taste for rustic and comic
scenes, the boldness'and facility of his
burin, herald the devolopment of famil-
art in Holland.
Lucas, who died at the age of 39, was
an artist of great capacity. Jacob Cor-
nelisz of Amsterdam and Jan van ScOrel
of Utrecht
were also gift-
e d painters,
less suscepti
ble than their
Flemish c o 11-
temporaries t o
those trans
alpine i n fl u-
ences, which
have nearly
always proved
pernicious t o
men of north
ern race. Hol
land, by ' es
pousing the
cause of the
Ref ormation
and breaking
with Rome,
preserved her
artistic origin
ality to some
extent, before she won her independ
ence. It was done at the expense of
cruel sacrifices; but she reaped the
reward of her courage, in the seven
teenth century, when she gave the
world one of the heroes of art — Rem
brandt, a genius at once Dutch and
universal. 1 Temperance, with her attributes, a
yoke and a clock.

FIG. 388. — A CARDINAL
VIRTUE.1
MICHEL COLOMBE.
(Figure from the Tomb of
Francois II. of Bretagne.)
(Nantes Cathedral.)

202

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XIX.

L. Courajod, Legons professees a VEcole du Louvre, vol. ii., Paris, 1901 (the Origin of
the Renaissance, Burgundian Art, the Influence of Northern Art upon Italy) ; L. Courajod
and F. Marcou, Le Musee de Sculpture comparee du Trocadero,
Paris, 1892; L. Gonse, La Sculpture jrangaise depuis le XIV"
siecle, Paris, 1895.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle; A. Michiels, Histoire de la Pein
ture fiamande, 10 vols., Paris, 1865-1874; VArt fiamand
dans VEst et le Midi de la France, Paris, 1877; A. J. Wauters,
La Peinture fiamande, Paris, 1882; C. Dehaisnes, VArt
chretien en Flandre, Douai, i860 Histoire de VArt dans la
Flandre, VArlois et le JIainaut avant le XVe siecle, 2 vols.,
Lille, 1886; A. Darcel, VArt dans les Flandres avant le XV"
siecle (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1887, i., p. 158); E. Miintz, Les
Influences classiques el le Renouvellement de V Art dans les
Flandres auXV" siecle (ibid., 1898, i., pp. 289, 472); M. Fried
lander, Meislerwerke der niederlandischen Malerei, Munich,
1903 ; J. Weale, The Early Painters of the Netherlands (Bur
lington Magazine, 1903, i., p. 41); H. Hymans, V Exposition
des Primitifs flamands a Bruges, Paris, 1902; R. Fry, The Ex
hibition of Early Flemish Art at Bruges (Tlie Athenasum,
September 13 and 20, 1902; (cf. Rev. archeol., 1903, i., p. 761);
G. Hulin, Catalogue cri
tique de V Exposition de
Bruges, Bruges, 1902 (cf.
Revue arched., 1903, i., p.
no; 1903, ii., p. 319).
R. de Lasteyrie, Les
Miniatures d'Andre Beau-
neveu et de Jacquemart de
Hesdin (Mon. Piot, vol. iii.,
p. 71); A. de Champeaux
and P. Gauchery, Les Arts a la Com du Due de Ber y,
Paris, 1894 (cf. B. Prist, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1895,
ii., p. 254, and for the works of this school, H. Bouchot
and S. Reinach, ibid., 1904, i., pp. 1 and 55); A. r'e
Champeaux, Le Due de Berry et VArt italien (Gazetl-
des Beaux-Arts, 1888, ii., p. 409; V Ancienne Ecole de
peinture de la Bourgogne (ibid., 1898, i., p. 36) ; A. Per-
rault, Dabot, VArt en Bourgogne, Paris, 1894 (cf.
Leprieur, Repertorium, 1895, p. 383); A. Kleinclausz,
Claus Sluler (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1903, i., p. 121);
VArt funeraire de la Bourgogne (ibid., 1901, ii., p. 441).
J. Helbig, La Sculpture au pays de Liege, Liege,
1890; La Peinture ait pays de Liege, Liege, 1903; F. G.
Cremer, Studien zur Geschichte der Oelfarbenlechnik,
Diisseldorf, 1895; P. Durrieu, Les Debuts des Van Eyck
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1903, i., p. 1; The Book of
Hours at Turin) ; L. Kaemmerer, Hubert und Jan Van
Eyck, Bielefeld, 1898; J. Weale, Hubert Van Eyck (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, igoi, ii., P-474);
F. Weale, Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, London, 1903 ; K. Voll, Die Werke des Jan van Eyck,

FIG. 389. — THE THREE
GRACES.
GERMAIN PILON.
(The Louvre.)

FIG 390. — RELIEFS ON THE FON
TAINE DES INNOCENTS, PARTS.
JEAN GOUJON.
(Photo, by Giraudon.)

1 I have taken various items in Chapter XIX. from these articles.
203

PIC. 3QI. — DIANA.

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
Strasburg, 1900; W. Bode, Le Retable de
I'Agneau (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1897,
L, p. 211).
J. A. Wauters, Rogier van der Weyden,
Brussels, 1856; L. Maeterlinck, Roger van
der Weyden et les Imagiers de Tournai,
Brussels, 1901; Rogier sculpteur (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1901, ii., p. 265); M. Fried
lander, Bildniss des Meisters von Flemalle
(Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1902,
p. 17); H. yon Tschudi, Der Meister von
Flemalle (ibid., 1898. p. 8); A. Wauters,
Hugo van der Goes, Brussels, 1872; E.
Michel, Le Triptyque d'Hugo van der
Goes (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1896, i.,
jean coujon. p 36l) . w> Bode> Die Anyang jer Hirten
(The Louvre.) von j.j_ van fler Qoes (Jahrbiicher of the
Berlin Museums, 1903, p. 99); C. Dehaisncs
Recherches sur le retable de Sainte-Bertin et sur Simon Marmion, Lille, 1892; VArt a.
Amiens vers la fin du moyen age, Bruges, 1890; E. van Even, Thierry Bouts, Louvain. 1864;
L. ICammerer, Memling, Bielefeld, 1889; W. H. Weale, Hans Memlinc, London, 1901
(same subject in French, Bruges, 1903); F. Bock, Memlingstudien, Diisseldorf, 1900
(rf. Repertorium, 1900, p. 416); G. Servieres, Le Polyptyque de Memling a Lubeck (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1902, i., p. 119); W. H. Weale, Gerard David, London, 1895; M. Fried
lander, Geertgen lo S. Jans (Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1903, p. 63) ; C. Benoit,
La Resurrection de Lazare par Gerard de Harlem (Monum. Piot, vol. ix., p. 73) ; H. Hymans,
Quentin Matsys (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1888, i., p. 1); C. Benoit, Jean Mosiaert (ibid.,
1899, i., p. 265); M. Gossart, Jean Gossart de Maubeuge, Lille, 1903; A. Wauters Bernard
van Orley, Brussels, 1881; H. Dollmayer, Hieronymus Bosch (Jahrbiicher of the Vienna.
Museums, 1898, p. 284); L. Maeterlinck, Une (Euvre inconnue de JerSme Bosch (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1900, i., p. 68); H. Hymans, Breughel le Vieux (ibid., 1890, i., p. 361).
G- F. Warner, Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum, London, 1899 and
after (facsimiles in colour) ; R. Beer, Die Miniaturenausstellung in Wien (Kunst und
Kunsthandwerk, Vienna, 1902, p. 285); R. Delisle, Les Heures du Due de Berry (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1884, i. , p. 401); P. Durrieu, Un grand Enlumineur parisien du XV"
siecle, Jacques de Besangon, Paris, 1892; S. Reinach, Un Manuscrit de Philippe-le-Bon a
Saint-Petersburg (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1903, i., p. 265; miniatures attributed to Mar
mion); P. Durrieu, Histoire du bon roi Alexandre (Revue de VArt, 1903, i., p. 49; minia
tures by Ph. de Mazerolles) ; Aug. Schestag, Die Chronik von Jerusalem (Jahrbiicher of the
Vienna Museums, 1899, p. 195; manuscript illuminated for Philippe leBon); J. Destree
Les Heures de N.-D. dites de Hennessy, Brussels, 1896; P. Durrieu, A. Bening et les Pein-
tres du breviaire Grimani (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1801, i., p. 353); G. Pawlowski, Le Livre
d'Heures d' Alexandre Borgia (ibid., 1891, i., p. 511); Kammerer, Ahnenreihen aus dem
Stammbaum des portugiesischen Konigshauses (Flemish miniatures in the British Museum),
Stuttgart, 1903 (cf. Weale, Burlington Magazine, 1903, ii., p. 321).
H. Curmer, Les Evangiles, Paris, 1864 (chromos after miniatures of the 15th century);
CEuvres de Jean Fouquet, Paris, 1865 (chromos) ; H. Bouchot, Jean Fouquet (Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 1890, ii., p. 273); P. Leprieur, Jean Foupuet (Revue de VArt, 1897, i., p. 25);
G. Lafenestre, Jean Fouquet (Revue des Deux-Mondes, Jan. 15, 1902); M. Friedlander,
Die Votiftafel des Etienne Chevalier von Fouquet (Jarbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1897,
p. 206); F. Gruyer, Etienne Chevalier et Saint Etienne par Fouquet (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1896, i., p. 89); Les Quarante Fouquet [de Chantillyl, Paris, 1900; C. Michel. Les
Miniatures de Fouquet a Chantilly (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1897, i., p. 214); P. Durrieu,
Miniatures inediles de Fouquet (Memo, of the Soe. des Antiquaires, 1903, vol. Ixi., p. 105);
P. Durrieu and J. J. Marquet de Vasselot, Les Manuscrits a miniatures des Heroides d'Oviie
(V Artiste, May, June, 1894; sequel to the school of Fouquet at Tours).
204

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

L. de Laborde, La Renaissance a. la Cour de France, 2 vols., Paris, i8.c;o, 1855; E. Miintz,
La Renaissance en Italie et en France a Vepoque de Charles VIII., Paris, 1885; P. Mantz,
La Peinture jrangaise duIXe au XV Ie siecle, Paris, 1898; C. Benoit, La Peinture frangaise
a la fin du XVs siecle (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1901, ii., pp. 89, 318; 1902, i., p. 65); G. Lafe
nestre, La Peinture frangaise du XVe siecle (ibid., 1900, ii., p. 377) ; P. Gelis-Didot, La Pein
ture decorative en France, du XIe au XVIe siecle, 2 vols., Paris, 1891; J. Dechelette and
E. Brassart, Les Peintures murales du moyen dge et de la Renaissance en Forez, Montbrison,
1900; L. de Farcy, Histoire et Description des Tapisseries de VEglise cathedrale d' Angers,
Angers, 1896 (extr. from the Revue de V Anjou).
G. Lafenestre, Nicolas Froment (Revue de VArt, 1897, ii., p. 305); L. Dehaisnes,
La Vie et VCEuvre de Jean Bellegambe, Lille, i8go (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, i8go, i., p.
S14); R. Maulde de la Claviere, Jean Perreal, dit Jean de Paris, peintre de Charles VIII.,
Paris, 1896; E. Male, Jean Bourdichon (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902, i., p. 185); H. J.
Hermann, Ein unbekannles Gebetbuch von Jean Bourdichon (Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte
Wickhoff gewidmet, Vienna, 1903, p. 46).
H. Havard, La Peinture holla! daise, Paris, 1882 ; F. Diilberg, Die Leydener Malerschule,
Berlin, 1899 (cf. Repertorium, 1899, p. 328).
F. Dimier, Le Primalice, Paris. 1902; E.
Miintz, VEcole de Fontainebleau et le Primalice
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902, ii., p. 152); H.
Bouchot, Le Portrait en France au XVI' siecle
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1887, h\, P- 108); Les
Clouet et Corneille de Lyon, Paris, 1892; F. Wick
hoff, Die Bilder weiblicher Halbfiguren (Jahr
biicher of the Vienna Museums, 1901; cf. Chro-
nique des Arts, 1902, p. 240).
, St. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpleurs de
VEcole frangaise jusqu'a Louis XIV., Paris,
1898; M. de Vasselot, Antoine le Moiturier (Mon
uments Piot, vol. iii., p. 247); R. Kochlin and
M. de Vasselot, La Sculpture a Troyes et dans la
Champagne meridionale au XV Ie siecle, Paris,
1901 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1901, i., p. 260);
E. Thiollier, Sculptures foreziennes de la Renais
sance (ibid., i., p. 496); P. Vitry, Michel Colombe
et la Sculpture frangaise de son temps, Paris, 190
(cf. Dehio, Repertorium, 1903, p, 247; Lefevre-
Pontalis, Bull. Monumental, 1902, p. in); L.
Palustre, Germain Pilon (Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
. 1894, i-, P- i)-
L. Bourdery and E. Lachenaud, Leonard
Limosin, Paris, 1897; Edm. Bonnaffe, Les Fai
ences de Saint-Porchaire (Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
1895, i., p. 277); P. Burty, Bernard de Palissy,
Paris, 1886; C. Dupuy, Bernard de Palissy,
Poitiers, 1902; H. Havard, Histoire de VOrfevrerie jrangaise, Paris 1896; E. Molinier
VOrjevrerie religieuse du Va la fin du XVe siecle, Paris, no date; J. Guiffrey, La Tapis-
serie, son histoire depuis le moyen dge -jusqu'd nos jours, Tours, 1886; E. Garnier, Histoire
de la Verrerie et de V Emaillerie, Tours, 1886.

FIG. 392. — THE TEMPTATION OF ST.
ANTHONY.
(Engraving.)
LUCAS VAN LEYDEN.
(Woermann, History of Painting. Seemann,
Leipzig.)

205

KG- 393- — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
STEPHAN LOCHNER.
(Cologne Cathedral.)

XX

THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY

The National Character of German Art. — The School of Prague. — Master Wilhelm of
Cologne. — Stephan Lochner. — His Adoration oj the Magi. — The School of Cologne.
— The Master of the Altar of St. Bartholomew, and other anonymous Masters of
the School. — The Lack of Refinement in German Art. — German Wood-carving and
its Influence on Painting. — The Suabian School. — Martin Schongauer. — The School
of Augsburg. — The School of Nuremberg. — Albert Diirer and his Pupils. — Holbein.
— Lucas Cranach. — The School of Alsace. — Mathias Griinewald. — Hans Baldung
Grien. — Joos von Cleve. — Barthel Bruyn. — The Extinction of National Art in
Germany.

Italian art dreamed of beauty and
realised its dream. Flemish art was
in love with truth, and " held its
mirror up to nature." German art
rarely achieved either truth or beauty.
But it succeeded in rendering, with a
fidelity that was- often brutal, the
/character of the German people
immediately before and after the
Reformation. The first School of German painting-
of which we have any knowledge
flourished at Prague about the year
1360 under the Emperor Charles IV.,
who summoned the Modenese painter,
Tommaso, from Italy to Bohemia.
Somewhat later, in 1380, we hear of

one Master Wilhelm, of Cologne, who
is much lauded by the chroniclers of
the time. Wilhelm was succeeded by
Stephan Lochner, from the neighbour
hood of Constance. About the year
1435, during the lifetime of Van Eyck,
he completed the most important work
produced by the German school in the
Middle Ages, the famous Adoration
of the Magi in Cologne Cathedral
(Fig- 393)- Lochner has been called
the German Fra Angelico; his art is
devout, radiant, and sentimental; his
characters are rosy, chubby children,
who are always good and go to church
regularly. The Van Eycks were
already famous in 1435, but the

206

THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY

Cologne picture shows no trace of
their influence. Lochner's art was
derived from illuminated manuscripts,
probably the work of the Flemish
miniaturists who flourished at the end
of the fourteenth century in Flanders,
Bourges, and Paris.
A novel tendency towards realism
made its appearance towards 1460 in
the numerous pictures of the Cologne
masters. A pupil of Bouts seems to
have founded a school there which

guished as the Master of the Altar
of St. Bartholomew, from one of his

FIG. 394. — SS. COLOMBA AND ANDREW.
(School of Cologne. The Master of the Altar of
St. Bartholomew.)
(Museum, Mainz.)

, became very flourishing. Henceforth,
though it remained very German in
its defects, the School of Cologne,
which existed till the middle of the six
teenth century, was merely a Rhenish
off-shoot of Flemish art. The two
masters most imitated at Cologne were
Bouts and Van der Weyden. The
great, and as yet unknown, master
who painted the fine Colognese Descent
from the Cross in the Louvre was
inspired by the latter; he is distin-

FIG. 395. — THE ANGELIC SALUTATION.
VEIT STOPS.
(Church of St. Lawrence, Nuremberg.)
works preserved at Munich (Fig. 394).
As a general rule, indeed, the artists of

FIG. 396. — THE TOMB OF ST. SEBALD.
(Church of St. Sebald, Nuremberg.)
this prolific school are anonymous, and
are known as the Master of the Lyvers-

207

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

berg Passion from the name of the
owner of the series), the Master of the
Life of the Virgin, the Master of the
Holy Family (Heilige Sippe), &c.
It was not only at Cologne that
painters sought inspiration from the
Flemings, but throughout Germany.
But the political and social conditions
of the country were not yet propitious
to the fruition of a delicate art. There
were no rich
patrons, as in
Italy and
Flanders; the
nation was
backward,
manners were
rough. A
great number
of petty
princes, civil
and ecclesi
astical, order-
e d pictures
and expected
to be served
without delay ;
the artists,
aided by their
pupils, pro
duced too much, and worked too
rapidly. They imitated the brilliant
colour of the Flemings, but with
out achieving their delicacy of touch.
The colour of their pictures is
harsh and often heavy. They long
continued to use gold backgrounds
instead of landscapes as a setting for
their figures, the former being more
dazzling to the ignorant and easier
of execution; aerial perspective was
therefore developed very tardily. But
the quality most conspicuously lacking
in the Germans of the fifteenth and
even of the sixteenth century was

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FIG. 397. — THE VIRGIN IN THE
ROSE GARDEN.
MARTIN SCHONGAUER.
(Cathedral, Colmar.)
FIG. 398. — PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.
ALBERT DURER.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
taste, the talent for selection. Their
compositions are crowded with fig
ures; these figures are often grotesque
>. — PORTRAIT OF OSWALD KRELL.
ALBERT DURER.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)
and grimacing; in place of strength
and beauty, we find sometimes a sickly
208
THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY

FIG. 400. — PORTRAIT OF JEROME HOLZSCHUHER.
(Museum, Berlin.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
insipidity, sometimes a painful tension
of style, sometime an almost ridicu
lous mannerism of attitude and ges
ture. It is the art of devout peasants,

FIG. 401. — THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.
ALBERT DURER.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)
at once coarse and sentimental, which
attracts at first by its artlessness

and vigour, and finally wearies by a
vulgarity, now clamorous, now in
significant. Beside an Italian or
Flemish picture of the same period,
a. German picture appears as the work
of a rustic beside that of a polished
man of letters. But the rustic is a
good fellow, who has done his best;
one of the virtues of this inferior art
is its honesty.
The German art par excellence was
wood-carving. It remained absolutely
Gothic, carrying on, with great skill
and admirable vigour, the tradition of

^^"^ffiWfflt

209

FIG. 402. — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
ALBERT DURER.
(Uffizi, Florence.)
the realistic imagiers of the fourteenth
century. The most distinguished rep
resentatives of this art were Adam
Krafft and Veit Stoss of Nuremberg,
the first of whom died in 1507, the
second in 1533 (Fig. 39s). They in
fluenced the painters of their time,
instead of being influenced by them.
It was they who were responsible for
the long continued prevalence in
German art of broken draperies with
deep and unnecessarily numerous
folds, an angular style, and a taste for
crowded compositions. But the types
P

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

of old men created by Krafft, and of
women created by Stoss, are among

FIG. 403. — THE HOLY FAMILY RESTING ON THE
FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.
ALBERT DURER.
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts.)
the most expressive in the whole range
of sculpture, and their dense composi
tions are instinct with a fervid piety
which makes those of the Italians
seem almost frivolous and worldly.
The School of Nuremberg also
produced sculptors of bronze, the
Vischers, the, best of whom, Pieter
Vischer, who died in 1529, translated
the types and conceptions of the
wood-carvers into metal (Fig. 396).
The school next in order of develop
ment after that of Cologne was the
School of Suabia, the great master
of which was Martin Schongauer of
Colmar (1450-1491). Martin was a
disciple of Roger van der Weyden,
but he has an individual quality of
purely German sentimentality. Like
many of the German painters who
had to provide pictures for the poor
as well as for the rich, he engraved on
wood and on copper; his engravings,

characterised by much vigour and
feeling in the line, are superior to his
pictures, the best of which is the
Virgin in the Rose-garden at Colmar
(Fig. 397). Zeitblom of Ulm (d. 1517),
a deeply religious painter, fascinating
in spite of his incorrectness, had much
in common with Schongauer.
The School of Augsburg developed
side by side with those of Col
mar and Ulm. Its best painter
was Burgkmair, a pupil of Schon
gauer, who went to Venice in 1508,
and settled at Augsburg, where nearly
all his works are still preserved.
Another Augsburg master, whose
spirited and robust art is sometimes
of a rather vulgar type, was Holbein
the elder, father of the great Holbein.
In his last pictures, he seems to be
forsaking the Gothic style, and pre
paring the way for that emancipation

FIG. 404. — THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
HANS VON CULMBACH.
(Museum, Berlin.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
of art which was to be consummated
by his famous son.

2IO

THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY

Nuremberg, with its rich commer
cial class, was the Florence of Ger
many about the year 1500, but it was
a coarser Florence, intent on expres
sion rather than on beauty. It pro
duced many -masterpieces of wood-
carving. The head of its school of
painting was' Michel Wohlgemut (b.
in 1434), a prolific but mediocre
artist, whose chief title to fame is that
he was the master of Diirer.

of Nuremberg, he first learned the craft
of a goldsmith, his father's calling,

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FIG. 405. — THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST.
A. ALTDORFER.
(Museum, Augsburg.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
During the first half of the six
teenth century, Germany produced
two painters of genius, and one very
richly gifted artist: Albert Diirer,
Hans Holbein, and Lucas Cranach.
Diirer (1472-1528) was a thinker as
well as an artist, and in this connec
tion claims a place in the history of art
side by side with Leonardo da Vinci
and Michelangelo (Fig. 398). The
Italians said he would have been the
greatest of their artists had he been
born in Rome or Florence. A native
FIG. 406. — THE VIRGIN WITH THE FAMILY OF
THE BURGOMASTER MEYER.
(Castle, Darmstadt.)
and in i486 entered Wohlgemuth
workshop. In 1490 he went to
Colmar and Basle, and to Venice,-.
211
FIG. 407. — PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS.
HOLBEIN.
(The Louvre.)
where he came under the influence
of Mantegna and Bellini. In 1497
he set up a studio in Nuremberg, and
P 3
THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

adopted his famous monogram, an
A under a D. Even at this period, he

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1
FIG. 40S. — CHARITY.
LUCAS CRANACH.
(Errera Collection, Brussels.)
painted admirable portraits, such as
that of Oswald Krell, at Munich
(Fig. 399). In 1505 he went back
to Venice, only returning to Nurem
berg in 1507. It was after this that
his period of great and feverish
activity began, not only in the field
of art, but also in that of the intellect
and of literature, for Nuremberg had
become a centre of Humanists, and
Diirer was the friend and painter of
the Humanists. In 1521, he visited
the Netherlands, and was received
with great honour. It was after his
return from this last visit that he
painted his masterpieces, the portrait
of Holzschuher at Berlin (Fig. 400)
and the Four Evangelists (Fig. 401)
at Munich, works that were un
doubtedly inspired by the Van Eycks.
The latter, the most imposing pic
ture of the German School, " a
creation of superhuman types, a
supreme effort towards simplicity and
grandeur,'' attests the master's sym
pathy for the Reformation, which,
appealed to the Evangelists to bring
back Christianity to the ancient paths.
Ecclesiastical architecture in Ger
many was ill adapted to mural paint
ing. Diirer never painted on a wall.
Some forty easel pictures and portraits
by him exist; his most beautiful
picture is the Adoration of the Magi,
at Florence (Fig. 402), a vigorous, pro
foundly thoughtful work, thoroughly
German in its contempt for elegance.
When Diirer attempted to imitate the
antique after the manner of the Italian
masters, the result was almost gro
tesque, as in his Lucretia, at Munich.
The Germans in general were even
less skilful than the Flemings in the
treatment of the nude. Sometimes
they fell into a coarse realism ; some-
FIG. 409. — PORTRAIT OF AN OLD MAN.
LUCAS CRANACH.
(Museum, Brussels.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)
times they disfigured borrowed types
by the stiffness and dryness of their
212
THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY

execution. But where Diirer was
superior to the Italians, and equal to
the greatest geniuses of all time, was in
engraving. Compositions such as his
Repose in Egypt (Fig. 403), St. Jerome
in his Cell, Melancholy, and Death
and the Knight show a profundity of
thought, a reticent poetry, and at the
same time a knowledge of form only
equalled in the works of Leonardo and
Michelangelo. At a period when
Classicism reigned supreme, Goethe
justly wrote: "When we know Diirer
thoroughly, we recognise that in truth,
nobility, and e"ven grace, his only equals
are the greatest of the Italians."
Among the pupils of Diirer who
worked at Nuremberg and Ratisbon,
two were artists of remarkable talent :
Hans von Culmbach (Fig. 404) and
Albrecht Altdorfer (Fig. 405).
Holbein (1498-1545), the second
great master of the German Renais
sance, was the son of the Augsburg
painter I have already mentioned.

several members of the English aris
tocracy and the famous portrait-group
of the two French envoys, known as

FIG. 410. — HERCULES AND OMPHALE.
LUCAS CRANACH.
(Museum, Brunswick.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)
Like Diirer, he travelled, going still
further afield. In 1515 he was at Basle,
and afterwards in England at the
Court of Henry VIII., painting the
king and his family, his ministers,

FIG. 411. — PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
CHR. AMBERGER.
(Museum, Brunswick.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)
The Ambassadors, in the National
Gallery. Holbein has no affinities
with Diirer. He is the only great
German artist who shows a strong
tendency to idealism. There is no
trace of Gothicism in his manner, no
touch of devotion and asceticism. The
results of his German education are
tempered by an elegance and reticence
which make him the most French
rather than the most Italian of the
Germans. Of his larger pictures, one
is a masterpiece. This is the Virgin
and Child (Fig. 406) at Darmstadt, of
which there is a Dutch copy at Dresden,
suaver but less expressive. In this
work a result quite novel in Germany
was achieved : character is reconciled
to beauty. The famous Dance of
Death, painted by Holbein on the
walls of the cemetery at Basle, has

213

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

perished almost completely, but it is
known by reproductions. Holbein's

FIG. 412. — THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS.
LUCAS CRANACH.
(Museum, Carlsruhe.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)
great title to glory is to be found in
his series of engravings and his por
traits. In some of these he equals
Diirer in precision while surpassing
him in liberty of touch. All deserve
mention ; but we must be content to
name those of Amerbach, and of the
painter's wife and children, in the
Basle Museum, of the unhappy Jane
Seymour at Vienna, of Erasmus in
the Louvre (Fig. 407), of Archbishop
Warham at Lambeth Palace, and Sir
Thomas More in Mr. E. Huth's collec
tion, of Hubert Morett at Dresden. His
engravings have not the intellectual
depth of Diirer's, but they charm by
their wit and fertility of invention.
Holbein's influence was far-reaching,
extending into Holland and France.
One of his imitators at Augsburg,
Amberger, was a vigorous and pene
trating portrait-painter (Fig. 411).

Lucas Cranach (1472-1553), the
founder of the Saxon School, was a
very different personality. Although
he was the intimate friend of the
Elector of Saxony, and familiar with
Luther and Melancthon, whose por
traits he painted, he is neither
thoughtful nor subtle. The basis of
his art is German rusticity, a rusticity
with a veneer of literature and
mythology, and a superficial ele
gance, such as might be acquired by
a parvenu sprung from the peasantry.
His science, which manifests itself in
his fine portraits, seems rather thin in
quality, especially as he produced
very rapidly, and also signed many
pictures painted by his pupils with his
monogram, the dragon. His feminine

FIG. 413. — THE NATIVITY.
BALDUNG GRIEN.
(Museum, Frankfort.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)
type is a very peculiar one, with
an enormous forehead and narrow

214

THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY

oblique eyes. Unlike Diirer and
Holbein, he was fond of treating the
nude, not only Adam and Eve, whom
all the German masters painted, but the
goddesses of fable (Fig. 412). These
nudities of Cranach's, often, as in his
Venus in the Louvre, crowned with a
large red velvet hat, are supremely
comical. His painting, like his draw
ing, has a certain wooden quality in
its dry uniformity ; he is all the more
a German, in that he suggests his
national art, that of wood-carving.
Sometimes, especially in his angels,
he recalls Perugino, some of whose
pictures he must certainly have seen.
Cranach is the most diverting of
painters, not only because he is eager
to amuse, but because his artlessness
and his false ideal of elegance often
provoke a smile at his expense (Fig.
410). But he painted certain realistic
portraits which are among the best

almost said his trade), and flooded
all Germany with facile pictures.

FIG. 414. — THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN.
JOOS VAN CLEVE.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)
works of the school (Fig. 409). As
an engraver, he is inferior to Diirer
and Holbein, but more popular and
good-humoured. His son, Lucas the
Younger, perpetuated his art (I had

FIG. 415. — THE MAN WITH THE PINK.
BARTHF.L BRUYN.
(Museum, Frankfort.)
(Photo, by Bruckmann.)
The school of Alsace produced an
eminent artist in the sixtenth century,
Mathias Griinewald, the first German
who used colour, not in the manner of
an illuminator, but as a painter. Hans
Baldung Grien, who worked at Stras
burg, and was influenced by Diirer,
was a nervous draughtsman, and a
good colourist (Fig.413). The school of
Cologne fell more and more under the
sway of the Netherlands and of Italy.
A very prolific painter, thoroughly im
bued with Italianism, who was known
as the-Master of the Death of the Vir
gin down to 1903, and has lately been
identified as one Joos van Cleve, was
born at Antwerp, and died in 1540
(Fig. 414). This remarkable artist,
who probably worked at Cologne,
was the master of the last notable
painter of that town, the portraitist
Bartholomew Bruyn (Fig. 415). But

215

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
from the second half of the sixteenth tion was interrupted. French and
century German art may be considered Italian art reigned alone ; these were
dead, stifled on the one hand by imita- succeeded by Academicism, Neo-
tion of the Italians, who produced only Hellenism, Raphaelism, and Impres-
mediocre works without-any character, sionism. At present, though she
and on the other bv the7religkn*vwars, boasts several great artists, Germany
which devastate^germ^ny arM^threw has no national school, and the .
civilisation,-bac^"by -AJiniX^ cenfey^ , worship she professes for her ancient
When the storm/'abated, the^Quntry-^rnasters has all the intensity of regret,
was impoverished, and national tradi- nay, of remorse,
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XX.
Works quoted on pp. 105, 146 by Liibke, Schnaasse and Woltmann.- — Dohme^ Bode,
Janitschek, Lippmann, and Lessing, Geschichte der deutschkn Kunst, 5 vols.. Berlin,. 1885-
1890; H. Janitschek, Geschichte der deutschen Malerei, Berlin, 1890; G. Ebe, Der deutsche
Cicerone, Leipzig, 1901; W. Liibke, Geschichte der Renaissance in Deutschland, 2nd ed.,
2 vols., Stuttgart, 1882; A. Lehmann, Das Bildniss bei den alldeutschen Meistern bis auj
Diirer, Leipzig, 1901.
J. von Schlosser, Tommaso von Modena (Jahrbiicher of the Vienna Museums, 1898,
p. 240); A. Marguillier, Michel Packer (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1894, i., p. 327); L. Schei-
bler and C. Aldenhoven, Geschichte, der Kblner Malerschule, Lubeck, 1897-1902 (with a
portfolio of 131 heliogravures) ; E. Delpy, Die Legende von der heiligen Ursula in der Kblner
Malerschule, Cologne, 1901.
P. Clemen, Die rheinische und die westjalische Kunst, Leipzig, 1903 (sculpture) ; F. Wan
derer, Adam Krafft, und seine Schule, Nuremberg, 1896 (with plates); B. Daun, Adam
Krafft, Berlin, 1897 (cf. Michaelson, Repertorium, 1899, p. 395); G. Seeger, Peter Vischer
der Aeltere, Leipzig, 1898; C. Headlam, Peter Vischer, London, 1901; E. Tonnies, Til-
mann Riemenschneider, Strasburg, 1900; G. Hager, Die Kunstentwicklung Alibayerns
(Kongress Kathol. Gelehrten, Munich, 1901, p. 143).
F. von Reber, Schwdbische Tafelmalerei im XIVt"n und XVten Jahrhundert (Sitzungs-
berichle der bayerischen Akademie, 1894, iii., p. 343); M. Bach, Schongauer studien (Re
pertorium, 1895, p. 253); Bulletin de la Societe Schongauer, 1893-1902, 1 vol., Colmar,
1903; G. von Terey, Hans Baldung Grien, Strasburg, 1898; F. von Reber, Hans Multscher
von Ulm, Munich, 1898.
M. Thausing, Diirer, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1884; Ch. Ephrussi, Albert Diirer et ses dessins,
Paris, 1882; G. Duplessis, CEuvres de Diirer (108 engravings), Paris, 1898; F. Lippmann,
Zeichnungen von Albrecht Diirer, 4 vols., Berlin, 1883-1896; L. Cust, Albert Diirer, London,
1898; H. Knackfuss, Diirer, 6th ed., Bielefeld, 1899; A. Weber, A. Diirer, 3rd ed., Ratisbon,
1903; M. Hamel, Derniers Travaux sur Diirer (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1903, i., p. 59);
L. Justi, Diirers Kunstlerisches Schaffen (Repertorium, 1903, p. 447).
A. Woltmann, H. Holbein und seine Zeit, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1874; P. Mantz, H. Holbein,
Paris, 1879; H. Knackfuss, Holbien der Jiingere, 2nd ed., Bielefeld, 1896; H. Stein, Biblio
graphic de Holbein, Paris, 1897; G. S. Davies, Hans Holbein, London, 1903; A. Goette,
Holbeins Totentanz und seine Vorbilder, Strasburg, 1897; L. Dimier, Les Danses des Morts
dans VArt Chretien, Paris, 1903; E. Haasler, Cristoff Amberger, Konigsberg, 1894.
E. Flechsig, Cranachstudien, Leipzig, 1900 (with a portfolio of 129 plates); M. Fried
lander, Die friihesten Werke Cranachs (Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1902, p. 228);
F. Lippmann, Lucas Kranach, Nachbildung, seiner Holzschnitte und Stiche, Berlin, 1896;
Seidlitz, V Exposition de Vceuvre de Cranach a Dresde (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, ii.,
p. 191); Campbell Dodgson, Bibliographie de Cranach, Paris, 1900; Sturge Moore, Alt-
dor fer, London, 1900.
F. Bock, Die Werke des Mathias Griinewald, Strasburg, 1904; E. Firmenich-Richartz.
B. Bruyn, Leipzig, 1891. 2l6

XXI
THE ITALIAN DECADENCE AND THE SPANISH
SCHOOL

The Phenomenon of Artistic Decadence. — The Decline of Art in Italy and its Causes. —
The Jesuit Style. — Originality Checked by excessive Admiration of the Great Renais
sance Artists. — The Influence of the Decadent Italian Schools on France and Spain.
— The Mannerists. — The Carracci. — The Frescoes in the Farnese Palace. — Albano,
Domenichino, Guido, Guercino. — Guido's Religious Types. — Caravaggio and his
School. — Pietro di Cortona and Luca Giordano. — The Neapolitan School. — Salvator
Rosa and Bernini. — Sassoferrato. — The Allori. — Carlo Dolci. — Ribera and his In
fluence on the Spanish School. — Morales. — The School of Seville. — Herrera and
Zurbaran. — Montanez and Alonzo Cano. — Velasquez. — His Technical Supremacy. —
The Modern Cult of Velasquez. — His Relations with the Spanish Court. — The His
torical Significance of his Works. — The Impersonal Character of his Art. — Murillo. —
His Qualities as a Colourist. — His Interpretation of Spanish Religious Sentiment. —
Goya. — The Unimpaired Vigour of Modern Art in Spain.

The word decadence, when applied
to art, must not be taken in too strict
a sense. Art never declines so
far as to return to its point of
departure ; thus the Bolognese
are in no way akin to the Giot-
tesques, but are more remote
from them than from the
Florentines of the golden age.
As a fact, evolution is always
going on, even when artists
believe that they are slavishly
imitating their predecessors.
But it sometimes happens that
the works of art of a country or
of a period are more fitted to
awaken curiosity than to excite
admiration. This is true of those
produced by the Italians from the
death of Michelangelo till now, though
we must make a reservation in the
case of Venice. The other exceptions,
some of which we will point out. have

not sufficed to prevent us from talking
of the decadence or decline of Italian

FIG. 416. — NEPTUNE AND AMPHITRITE.
ANNIBALE CARRACCI.
(Farnese Palace, Rome.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann, Leipzig.)

art; but there has been neither retro
gression nor stagnation.
Various causes have been assigned
for this depressing phenomenon.
Some urge the loss of Italian liberty,
crushed successively under the heel

217

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

of Spain and of Austria; others the
Counter-Reformation (154S). which
brought about the predominance of a

FIG. 417. — THE LAST COMMUNION OF ST. JEROME.
DOMENICHINO.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
religion whose chief pre-occupation
was to dazzle and stimulate. It is
certain that Italian art of the seven
teenth century aims at effect, that it
dwells unduly on ecstasy and rapture,
sentimental effusions, the physical
tortures of the martyrs. It introduced
a variety of new motives, such as that
of Christ and the Virgin as half-
length figures, with eyes cast mourn
fully heavenwards, an cx-voto of a
vague and sickly piety quite unknown
to the fifteenth century. In place of
the Venuses of Titian and Giorgione,
or even the Graces and Galateas of
Raphael, art repeated to satiety the
type of the repentant Magdalen, of
which Morelli said that it was " the
Venetian Venus translated into the
Jesuit style." It shows an unpleasant
mingling of sensuality and devotion.

Assuredly what is known, in archi
tecture especially, as the Jesuit style,
had a disastrous influence in the
domains of painting and sculpture.
But why did this style, which was that
of Rubens, produce masterpieces in
Flanders and not in Italy? Here
another cause of decay intervenes, the
legitimate, but stupefying admiration
evoked by the great masters of the
Renaissance. It was held that they
had said everything to perfection;
artists studied the masterpieces of the
past rather than Nature, and in this
study acquired a somewhat mechani
cal facility which they abused. It is,
of course, true that artists in all ages
have been inspired by their masters;
but these masters have been for the
most part living. At the close of the

FIG. 418. — ECCO HOMO.
GUIDO RENI.
(Gallery, Bologna.)
(Photo, by Brogi.)
sixteenth and throughout the seven
teenth century, they took, sometimes
as their only masters, dead men,
Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Cor-

218

ITALIAN DECADENCE AND SPANISH SCHOOL

reggio, or more remote dead artists,
the authors of antique statues and bas-

FIG. 419. — AURORA
GUIDO RENI.
(Rospigliosi Palace, Rome.)
reliefs. At Rome, in the fifteenth
century, these works were compara
tively rare ; in the sixteenth century,
thanks to the excavations that were
carried on on every side, they multi
plied rapidly, and the first museums
were established at Rome and Flo
rence. Italian art was the victim

FIG. 420. — MARY MAGDALENE.
GUERCINO. (Spoleto.)
(Photo, by Alinari.)
of many simultaneous tyrannies, that
of the foreigner, that of the Counter-

Reformation, that of the great men of
the Renaissance, that of classic art.
And yet, as we shall see, this art was
vital and innovating. In Spain and in
France, it threw out vigorous offshoots,
which have not yet ceased to bear
fruit. A walk through the Musee du
Luxembourg in Paris suffices to show
that the Romans of the Empire and
the Bolognese of the seventeenth cen
tury have had a larger following in 19th

FIG. 421. — THE ENTOMBMENT.
CARAVAGGIO.
(Museum of the Vatican.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann,
Leipzig.)
century France, than the Greeks of Phi
dias and the Florentines of Botticelli.
After the death of Michelangelo in
1564, a first period of extravagant imi
tation set in, that of the Mannerists,
which lasted to the end of the century.
An Antwerp painter, Denis Calvaert,
founded a school at Bologna, which
thenceforth (about 1575) became what
Florence and Rome had been, the
most active centre of Italian art. It
was there that Lodovico Carracci, born

219

THE " STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

at Bologna in 1515, opened, jointly with
his cousins, Agostino and Annibale, an

FIG. 422. — THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN.
CARAVAGGIO.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
Academy known as that of the Incam-
minati, which became the rival of
Calvaert's school, and the seminary of
art in the seventeenth century. Car-
racci taught eclecticism, instead of the
imitation of Michelangelo ; his theory
was that from each school and each
painter the artist should take what
was best, so as to rise above the
masters by combining their qualities.
The practice of the Carracci was
superior to their doctrine. The fres
coes Annibale spent eight years in
painting in the Farnese Palace in
Rome, show fine qualities of grace and
invention (Fig. 416). The dominant
influences in this school were those of
Raphael and Michelangelo in drawing
and composition, of Titian and Cor

reggio in colour. These exemplars
are not so diverse, but that they might
be imitated simultaneously.
The school of the Carracci produced
certain painters who were formerly
very famous, and are now somewhat
unduly depreciated, Albani (1578-
1661), who was called the Anacreon
of Painting, Domenichino (1581-
1641), who was compared to Raphael,
Guido Reni (1575-1642), a clever and
prolific decorator. These artists, to
whom we must add Guercino (1590-
1666), who, like them was influenced
by the Carracci, are the principal
representatives of the Bolognese
School, whose pictures are to be found
in every town in Italy, and in every
museum in Europe (Figs. 417-420).
Domenichino's masterpiece, St. Je
rome's Last Communion, in the Vati
can, gives a good general idea of

FIG. 423. — APOLLO AND DAPHNE.
BERNINI.
(Borghese Gallery, Rome.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)
the Bolognese style (Fig. 417). It
is an academic and eclectic work,

220

ITALIAN DECADENCE AND SPANISH SCHOOL

betraying the imitation of Raphael
and Michelangelo, and showing
neither originality nor conception
nor depth of thought; neverthe
less, it reveals a high degree of
knowledge, and a sense of composi
tion unknown to most of Raphael's
predecessors. Guido Reni's famous
painting, again, Aurora, in the Rospi-
gliosi Palace at Rome (1609), though
a little strident in its high-toned colour,
and over-facile in drawing, is one of
the great achievements of decorative
painting (Fig. 419). Guido Reni
further created types of Christ, the
Virgin and the Magdalen, which
may not be free from the reproach of
a certain sentimental vulgarity; but
their prodigious popularity attests
that they realised the religious ideal
of the day, a merit that claims due
recognition (Fig. 418).

Caravaggio, a plasterer, without any
artistic education, but naturally gifted

FIG. 424. — THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
RIBERA.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
The Academicism of the Eclectics
was not long in provoking a reaction.

FIG. 425. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
MORALES.
(Pablo Bocsh Collection, Madrid.)
(1569-1619), preached a return to
nature, not smiling and serene, but
brutal and ugly. Painting in a dark
studio, ligted by a trap-door in the
roof, he obtained striking effects of
colour and relief which were new to
the Italians. If the illumination of
his pictures is artificial, his types are
those of the street, and even of the
prison. Caravaggio was the first
Italian who deliberately renounced
idealism (Figs. 421, 422). In this
respect he was the Manet of his day ;
but as he belonged essentially to that
day, he had more in common with
the Carracci than he supposed. His
masterpiece, the Death of the Virgin,
in the Louvre (Fig. 422), inspires
a certain respect; only a true pioneer
could have had the courage to hurl
such a gage of naturalism in the faces
of Raphael's votaries. Besides his
religious subjects, Caravaggio painted

221

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 426. — THE VISION OF ST. THERESA.
BERNINI.
(Church of Sta. Maria della Vittoria, Rome.)
(Photo, by Anderson, Rome.)

FIG. 427. — JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES.
CRISTOFORO ALLORI.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann,
Leipzig.)

FIG. 428. — THE MADONNA OF THE ROSARY.
SASSOFERRATO.
(Church of Sta. Sabina, Rome.)
(Photo, by Anderson.)

FIG. 429. — ST. CECILIA.
CARLO DOLCI.
(Museum, Dresden.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann,
Leipzig.)

222

ITALIAN DECADENCE AND SPANISH SCHOOL

with evident gusto, violent episodes of
real life, murders, quarrels, tavern
scenes, adventures of gypsies and
vagabonds. The Carraccists inveighed against
Caravaggio, but nearly all of them
succumbed to his influence. Guercino
became his disciple and Guido Reni
imitated him so far as to abandon his
light, crude colour, and paint- figures
that seem to be hiding in a cellar.
Even now, the disciples of Caravaggio
are more numerous than those of
Raphael ; and it was the reaction
against this tenacious tradition in the
nineteenth century that created the
practice of painting in a strong light,
in the manner described by the
clumsy term, pleinairisme (" open-
airism"). Yet another decorator of astonish
ing spirit and vigour was Pietro da
Cortona (1596-1669), who had a gifted

quickly), the author of numerous
works preserved at Naples and at

FIG. 430. — A DOMINICAN MONK PRAYING
ZORBARAN.
(National Gallery, LondoD.)
but over-facile pupil in Rome, Luca
Giordano, called Fa presto (does

FIG. 431. — THE CRUCIFIXION.
VELASQUEZ.
(Museum, Madrid.)
(Photo, by Lacoste.)
Madrid. The school of the Cortonists
covered the churches and palaces of
Italy with clamorous, rapidly exe
cuted compositions, the brio of which,
to use the Italian term, does not com
pensate for their vulgarity and incor
rectness. After Bologna, Naples and Genoa
witnessed the rise of schools which
played an important part in the second
half of the seventeenth century.
Naples was the field of the greatest
landscape and battle-painter of Italy,
Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), whose
violent, sombre style is akin to that
of Caravaggio. Naples also produced
the most distinguished Italian sculptor
of the seventeenth century, Bernini
(1598-1680), who was invited to Paris
by Louis XIV., and who, thanks to
the protection of successive Popes,
exercised a sort of artistic dictatorship

223

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

in Rome (Figs. 423, 426). His con
temporaries acclaimed him as a second
Michelangelo. He was, in reality, the
Rubens of sculpture, the representa
tive par excellence of the Jesuit style.
But his abuse of pathetic gestures,
fervid expressions, fluttering dra
peries, and useless ornament should
not blind us to the fact that his works
are those of a marvellously gifted

Sabina in Rome, was recovered by the
Italian police, and restored to its place.
Even a masterpiece by Sassoferrato
did not find an immediate purchaser!
At Florence, the two Allori,
Alessandro and Cristoforo, showed
genuine artistic qualities. Cristoforo's
Judith (about 1600) is a fine academic
work, which Musset eulogised as one
of the supreme pictures in Italy (Fig.

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FIG. 432. — THE INFANT, BALTAZAR CARLOS.
VELASQUEZ.
(Museum, Madrid.)

FIG. 433. — THE MAIDS OF HONOUR.
VELASQUEZ.
(Museum, Madrid.)

artist, thoroughly familiar with all the
resources of his art, and with all the
intellectual vices of his time, and mak
ing use of the one to flatter the other.
In the seventeenth century the
Roman School dragged on an in
glorious existence. Its best artist,
Sassoferrato (1605- 1685), imitated
Raphael's Florentine manner with
some success, and painted sentimental
canvases in a silvery tone which has a
certain charm. His masterpiece, the
Madonna of the Rosary (Fig. 428),
recently stolen from the Church of Sta.

427). But even in this we note, instead
of the austere grace of the earlier
masters, a deplorable taste for a liquid
fusion of surface, for languid, syrupy-
colour. The most popular representa
tive of this style was Carlo Dolci
(1616-1680), whose works are often to
be met with in English and German
collections ; the Louvre, fortunately,
has no example of him. His most
characteristic productions are half-
length figures, blue, waxen and
streaky, which mark the transition
from the amenities of Correggio to

224

ITALIAN DECADENCE AND SPANISH SCHOOL

our most nauseating religious prints
(Fig. 429).
An artist of Valencia, Ribera

FIG. 434. — THE FORGE OF VULCAN.
VELASQUEZ.
' (Museum, Madrid.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann.
Leipzig.)
(1588-1652) arrived in Italy when
still a youth. He was fascinated by
the style of Caravaggio, then went to
Parma to copy Correggio's works, and
returned to found a school at Naples.
Philip IV. of Spain took him under
his protection. He carried the style
of Caravaggio into Spain, where it
found congenial territory, and exer
cised an influence that has never died
out. Ribera was a true artist and a
true Spaniard. " In his choice of
subjects and still more in their inter
pretation, he always shows an intense
realism, which in the execution, and
in the expression of form, sometimes
betrays a sort of instinctive ferocity.
He took pleasure in the rendering of
tortures and martyrdoms. Beggars
and old men with deep wrinkles are
his favourite models." *
Ribera's violent illumination was
derived from Caravaggio; but his
1 Bonnat, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898,
i., p. 180.

types are nobler and his drawing
better than those of the Neapolitan.
He sometimes approaches Correggio,
as in the beautiful Adoration of the
Magi in the Louvre (Fig. 424). It is
mainly owing to Ribera that Caravag-
gio's manner has persisted in modern
art. A skilful imitator thereof in our
own times was the French painter,
Theodule Ribot.
The natural tendencies of Spanish
art were monkish and ascetic. In the
middle of the sixteenth century a
belated mystic of considerable talent,
Morales, called the Divine, was. still
painting emaciated Virgins and Christs
inspired by Roger van der Weyden
(Fig. 425). But at the same time the
influences of the Italian Renaissance
took root in Seville, the school of
which city became the centre of
Spanish art. ' There again eclectic
classicism provoked a reaction. About

FIG. 435. — VIRGIN AND CHILD.
MURILLO.
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)
1620, the elder Herrera set the
example of a brutal and impetuous
225 Q

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

naturalism, aptly interpreted by an
amazing breadth of touch. (It is

FIG. 436. — ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY
MURILLO.
(Museum, Madrid.)
said that he painted with reeds in
stead of brushes.) The most gifted
of his successors, Zurbaran, born in
1598, has been called the Caravaggio
of Spain. He was primarily a painter
of religious scenes, of ecstatic
visionary monks. The Kneeling Do
minican, in the National Gallery of
London, is a picture which compels a
painful admiration, and lingers haunt-
ingly in the memory (Fig. 430).
A contemporary of Zurbaran's at
Seville, Montanez, was the head of
the school of Spanish sculpture. At
once ascetic and brutally realistic, he
produced a series of terrifying works,
quivering with a mournful and intense
vitality, the eloquence of which
appeals rather to the senses than to
the mind. His best pupil, Alonzo
Cano (1601-1667), painter and
sculptor, rebelled against the excesses
of naturalism, and turned again to

Italian idealism without ceasing to be
touching and expressive.
Younger by a year than Zurbaran,
and brought up like him at Seville,
Velasquez, brimming over with health
and strength, escaped from the
influence of Caravaggio and the
paralysing grip of Spanish mysticism
(1599-1660). His career, like that of
Raphael, was a long series of triumphs.
He knew neither the difficulties of a
beginning, nor the melancholy of a
neglected old age. Velasquez studied
the admirable series of pictures by
Titian which the Emperor Charles V.
had collected at Madrid; he also
spent two years in Italy. But the
Venetians merely revealed to him
his own profoundly personal genius.
As regards technique, he was perhaps
the greatest painter the world has
ever seen. Let us hear how two

FIG. 437. — THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
MURILLO.
(Museum, Madrid.)
(Photo, by Lacoste.)
distinguished modern masters, his
most fervent worshippers, speak

226

ITALIAN DECADENCE AND SPANISH SCHOOL

of his art: " She [i.e., Art]," said
Whistler, '* dipped the Spaniard's
brush in light and air, and made his
people live within their frames, and
stand upon their legs, that all nobility
and sweetness and tenderness and
magnificence should be theirs by
right." And Bonnat tells us of his
" clear colouring, limpid as water-
colour, brilliant as a precious stone,"
of " his grey, golden and silvery tones,"

FIG. 438 — BOYS EATING MELONS.
MURILLO.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)

of the happy union and exquisite
tenderness of the most delicate shades
of colour. " Velasquez' method is
surprisingly simple. He paints his
composition directly on the canvas.
The simplified shadows are merely
rubbed in, all the high lights are laid
on in a rich impasto; and the result,
with its broad, delicate, and justly
executed tonalities, is so perfect in
value that the illusion is complete."
Yet withal, he does not, like
Rembrandt, create an artificial atmos
phere for his personages. " The air

he breathes is our own, the sky above
him is that under which we live.
Before his creations we receive the
same impression as that made upon
us by living beings." " Before a work
of Valesquez," wrote Henri Regnault,
"' I feel as if I were looking at reality
through an open window." Velasquez'
portraits are miracles of truth, of power,
of implacable psychological analysis;
in his large pictures, he combines with

FIG. 439. — LAS MAJAS ON THE BALCONY.
(Museum, Madrid.)
(Photo, by Lacoste.)
his high qualities as a painter, clarity
of composition and a grandiose simpli
city. " He envelops his models in
ambient air, and places them so
exactly on the planes they ought to
occupy that we feel as if we were
walking round them."
Velasquez painted not only indi
viduals but a whole society, a whole
epoch. The Spanish court and aris
tocracy live again on his canvases in
all the pride, their melancholy, the
sinister indications of their physical
degeneracy. What lessons in history

227

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

we may read in his sickly Philip IV.,
in his prematurely serious royal

FIG. 440. — LA MAJA CLOTHED.
GOYA.
(Museum, Madrid.)
children, with their unhealthy faces
and rigid attitudes. On the other
hand, when he painted his mytho
logical or genre pictures, Velasquez
took his models from the robust
Madrilene proletariat, which attracted
Murillo also, when he wearied of
Virgins and Saints. Velasquez, the
painter of an anaemic court, turned
from it occasionally to the people,
where he found not only physical
health, but a joy of life which echoed
his own.
If this great observer, this pro
digious craftsman, felt a heart beating
strongly in his breast, if he knew sym
pathies and antipathies, love and hate,
he has not confided them to us. He
is a haughty and indifferent genius,
whose soul never appears in his
pictures; he is content to live and to
make others live. The warmest of
painters was, at least apparently, as
cold as a photographer's lens (Figs.
431-434)- Very different was the gentle Murillo
(1618-1682), also a native of Seville,
who studied Rubens and Van Dyck
at Madrid, and created a style of his
own, sometimes devout and senti

mental, as in his numerous pictures
of the Virgin, sometimes realistic, but
tempered by a certain pity and tender
ness, as in his charming boys and
girls of the people. Murillo is weak
and wanting in distinction as a
draughtsman. His much admired
Virgins are fundamentally common
place ; but he was a master of vaporous
colour, sometimes silvery, sometimes
golden, always suave and caressing.
This colour is not merely spread upon
his figures, but around them; it is
like a nimbus from which they emerge,
embellished by its splendour. Mu
rillo was the most eloquent inter- '
prefer of that tender and sensual
piety which, in his country of strange
contrasts, flourishes together with a
taste for bloody spectacles and the
disdainful indifference of the hidal
gos (Figs. 435-438).
Spanish art never lost sight of

FIG. 441. — PORTRAIT OF DONA ISABEL Y CORCEL.
GOYA.
(National Gallery, London.)
these traditions. Goya (1 746-1828)
appeared a second Velasquez at a

228

ITALIAN DECADENCE AND SPANISH SCHOOL
time when scarcely anyone in Europe back colourists. " I was brought up
knew how to paint. The French in the worship of Velasquez," wrote
colourists of the ninetenth century Bonnat in 1898. And in recent ex-
felt his influence, as they did that of hibitions we have seen pictures signed
the English successors of Titian and with Spanish names — such as Bilbao
Rubens. He, too, carried his taste and Zuloaga — that no Italian, no
for realism to the verge of vulgarity German, and no Englishman could
and ugliness (Figs. 439, 441). Spain have painted. They bear eloquent
suffered very little from the disease of testimony to the vitality of a school
Academicism, which ravaged Italy, which prides itself on its descent from
France, and Germany. The taste for the great Velasquez, a school which
true painting was never extinguished perhaps reserves for the Europe of
there. Those of our contemporaries the twentieth century the appari-
who have lived in Spain, Regnault, tion of some new genius of the first
Bonnat and Carolus Duran, have come rank.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XXI
Work quoted on p. 146 by Woltmann. — G. Ebe, Die Spat-Renaissance, Kunstge-
schichte der europaischen Lander von der Mitte des XVI1"' bis zum Ende des XVIII1"'' Jahr-
hunderts, 2 vols., Berlin, 1886; G. Giirlitt, Geschichte des Barockstiles, 3 vols., Stuttgart,
1887-1889; Ch. Scherer, Studien zur Elfenbeinplastik der Barockzeit, Strasburg, 1898;
E. Jaeschke, Die Antike in der bildenden Kunst der Renaissance, Strasburg, 1900; J. Strzy
gowski, Das Werden des Barock bei Raphael und Correggio, Strasburg, 1898.
E. Plon, Benvenuto Cellini, 2 vols., Paris, 1883-1884; E. Molinier, Benvenuto Cellini,
Paris, 1894; Benvenuto Cellini, Memoirs, translated by John Addington Symonds, London,
1888 ; S. Fraschetti, II Bernini, Milan, 1900; M. Raymond, La Sainte-Cecile de Maderna
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892, i., p. 37); E. Steinmann, Sassoferrato' s Madona del Rosario
(Kunstchronik, 1901-1902, p. 27).
P. Lefort, La Peinture espagnole, Paris, 1894; VEcole espagnole au Prado (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1894, ii., p. 405); Manuel Cossio, El Greco, London, 1903; P. Lefort,
Zurbaran {Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892, i., p. 365); Sir Walter Armstrong, Velasquez,
(Portfolio Monographs), London, 1897; A. de Beruete, Velasquez, Paris, i8q8; L. Bonnat,
Velasquez (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, i., p. 177); H. Knackfuss, Velasquez, Bielefeld,
1896; C. Justi, Diego Velasquez, Bonn, 1889 (English translation, London, 1890); R.
Stevenson, Velasquez, 2nd ed., London, 1899; E. Faure, Velasquez, Paris, 1903; C. Justi,
Murillo, Leipzig, 1892 ; P. Lefort, Murillo et ses eleves, Paris, 1892 ; H. Knackfuss, Murillo
2nd ed., Bielefeld, 1896; Ch. Yriarte, Goya, Paris, 1867; P. Lafond, Goya, Evreux, 1902
(cf. Revue de VArt, 1899, i., p. 133); V. von Loga, Francisco de Goya, Berlin, 1903; P.
Lafond, Ignacio Zuloaga (Revue de VArt, 1903, ii., p. 163).
B. Haendcke, Studien zur Geschichte der Spanischen Plastik (Montariez, Alonso Cano,
Pedro de Mena, Zarcillo), Strasburg, igoo; M. Dieulafoy, Le Siecle d'Or, Paris, 1904.

22g

XXII

ART IN THE NETHERLANDS IN THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY
The Revolt of the Netherlands.— The Separation of Dutch and Flemish Schools.— The
Character of Dutch Art Determined by Social Conditions.— The Non-literary Quality
of Dutch Art. — Frans Hals. — Adriaen Brouwer and Adriaen van Ostade. — The
Ruisdaels.— Rembrandt.— His Life and Work. — The Originality of his Art.— His
Etchings.— Masters of the Second Rank.— The Decline of Dutch Art under Italian
Influences.— Flemish Art.— Rubens.— The Fecundity of his Genius.— Jordaens.—
Van Dyck. — David Teniers.

In 1556, the Netherlands, which
had formed a part of the Empire of
Charles V., passed to the Kingdom of

FIG. 442. — THE ARTIST AND HIS WIFE..
FRANS HALS.
(Museum, Amsterdam.)
Spain. For some thirty years past
the Reformation had made steady
progress in the Low Countries, in
spite of persecutions and tortures.
In 1564 the upheaval began, which
after terrible carnage brought about
the Union of Utrecht; the Dutch
Provinces formed the Republic of the
Seven United Provinces. In 1648 the

Peace of Westphalia recognised the
independence of Holland, which was
then allied with France. In the seven
teenth century, in spite of the unjust
and cruel war waged against her by
Louis XIV, she was the richest and
most civilised country of Europe,
the heir of the glory and prosperity
of Venice.
Thus, from the end of the sixteenth
century onwards, there is a very clear
distinction between Belgium, which
had remained Spanish and Catholic,
and Holland, which was free and
Protestant. The lower Meuse sepa
rated two different civilsations. This
is a fact of which the historian must
take account in a comparative study of
Dutch and Flemish art.
The Holland of the seventeenth
century, wealthy and industrious, was
a domain very propitious to the
development of art, and especially of
painting. But this could not be
applied to the decoration of churches,
which was disapproved by Protes
tantism. There was consequently no
monumental art, and therefore very
little Academicism. The private houses,

230

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

narrow, high, and dark, required small
pictures ; for the town-halls and the
halls of the various corporations,
groups of portraits, representing
sheriffs, archers, surgeons, directors
of charitable institutions were in
request, to satisfy the desire of this
rich commercial community to com
memorate the services rendered by
them. This explains the double pre
ference shown in Dutch art for little
pictures, interiors, and landscapes,
dealing but rarely with religious or
historic themes, and for portraits,

FIG. 443. — THE MARSH.
J. VAN RUISDAEL.
(The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann,
Leipzig.)
either of individuals or groups of
persons. The Dutch loved nature and painting
with a sort of artistic sensuality. They
did not, like the Italians, look to them
for the expression of subtle ideas.
Their art is realistic, and in general,
non-intellectual — art for art's sake.
The result was firstly, an extraordinary
development of technical skill, which
made it possible to render the most
fugitive gradations of Dutch sunlight,
filtering through the moisture-laden
atmosphere in a pale golden rain; and

FIG. 444. — THE MILL.
J. VAN RUISDAEL.
(Van der Hoop Museum, Amsterdam.)
secondly, a comparative indifference
to the meaning of the subject treated.
The little masters restrict themselves
to a certain number of general themes;
the doctor and his patient, the pangs
of love, the message, the concert, the
inn ; the landscape painters represent
the forest, the cascade, the sea, or the
sea-shore, a bit of a town, a quay.
They are no story-tellers in quest of
piquant or edifying anecdotes ; they
give us nothing akin to Fragonard's

FIG. 445. — THE ANATOMY LESSON.
REMBRANDT.
(Museum, The Hague.)
Swing, or Greuze's Father's Curse.
All the wit of his painting lies in the

231

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 446. — THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE.
REMBRANDT.
(Museum, The Hague.)
execution, in the actual handling of
the colours. Unlike the French
masters of the eighteenth and nine
teenth centuries, the Dutch put no
literature into their painting.
One point that seems difficult to
explain is that this nation, which had
bought liberty at the price of such
heroic sacrifices, which, in the course
of the seventeenth century, dis
tinguished itself by brilliant victories
on land and sea, should have almost
entirely neglected historical painting.
When we compare Meissonier . to the
Dutch masters, we forget that the
French painter, though he may have
been somewhat Dutch in technique,
was by no means Dutch in sentiment.
He was, above all things, a historical
painter. But perhaps the Dutch had

no appreciation of a style of painting
in which art is less important than
narrative; and perhaps they held that
war, even when glorious and justifi
able, causes so much misery that pic
tures dealing with its incidents must
be repellent.
At the end of the sixteenth and the
beginning of the seventeenth centuries,
Holland came under the influences of
Italian art, firstly, that of Raphael,
then that of Caravaggio. Thence
forward it may be said that Italianism
remained in a latent state in Holland.
But realism asserted itself triumphantly
at Haarlem, in the person of Frans
Hals (d. 1666), the greatest portrait
painter of Holland, after Rembrandt.
Hals' last works reveal a most pene
trating observation, and a frankness
of touch comparable to that of Velas
quez. But in every other respect, he is
the antithesis of the austere Spaniard.

FIG. 447. — PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.
REMBRANDT. (Etching.)
Hals is the laureate of laughter ; he
has observed and recorded laughter

232

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

in all its phases; a monograph on the
smile and the laugh might be fully
ilustrated from the works of Hals
alone! (Fig. 442.)
This robust master formed numerous
pupils, among others two painters of
rustic subjects, who combine admirable
technique with a lively and brilliant
imagination, sometimes a little too
plain-spoken for modern taste, Adriaen
Brouwer (1606-1638), and Adriaen
van Ostade (1610-1675). It is
interesting to compare them with
the more refined painters of the fol
lowing generation, Terborch, Metzu,
¦ and the delightful master of light
and cosy middle-class interiors, Pieter
de Hoogh. With these, subject and
action are reduced to a minimum ;
Brouwer and Ostade have much more
verve and invention. Ostade's master
piece is perhaps the little Schoolmaster
in the Louvre. Before the rearrange-

FIG. 448. — THE ARTIST AND HIS WIFE.
REMBRANDT.
(Museum, Dresden.)
ment of the gallery in 1900 it hung for
many years beside Correggio's Antiope

FIG. 449. — FRACMENT OF MANOAH S PRAYER.
REMBRANDT.
(Museum, Dresden.)
in the Salon Carre, and was well able
to bear such a juxtaposition.
The School of Haarlem also produced
some wonderful landscape painters.
First, Everdingen (1621-1675), who
journeyed as far afield as Norway to
study mountains and waterfalls ; then
the two brothers, Solomon and Jacob
van Ruisdael, the latter of whom
(d. 1682) is the greatest landscape-
painter of Holland (Figs. 443, 444).
If we compare him with the landscape-
painters of the nineteenth century, we
cannot call him a realist, for he com
poses; he does not paint haphazard
some slice of nature or some effect of
light; but with the possible exception
of Corot, no painter has put more of his
own soul into Nature, none has made it
more moving and eloquent, none has
more adequately felt and rendered the
transparence of air and water. Ruis-
dael's masterpiece is The Marsh, at St.
Petersburg; but his great pictures in

233

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the Louvre, in London, and at Dres
den, are scarcely less admirable.

FIG. 450. — THE NIGHT-WATCH.
(March out of the Civic Guard.)
REMBRANDT.
(Museum, Amsterdam.)
Philips Wouwerman, a painter rather
older than Ruisdael (1619-1668), is
famous as a painter of horses and
horsemen; his prolific talent would
be more fully appreciated now if he
had applied it to a wider range of
subjects. Amsterdam succeeded Haarlem as
the centre of Dutch art when Rem
brandt settled there in 1631 (Fig. 447).
Born at Leyden in 1606, he passed
through the studio of an obscure
painter, one Lastman, who had studied
in Italy and had felt the influence of
Caravaggio ; some of his pictures offer
contrasts of light and shade which
seem to foreshadow the great works
of his pupil. A most industrious
worker (600 of his pictures and 300 of
his- engravings are extant), Rembrandt
lived, happy and envied, till 1650 ; at
this period, his extravagant habits, or

rather his inveterate passion for col
lecting, landed him in bankruptcy and
ruin (1656). The close of
his life was overshadowed
by sorrow and misfortune,
in spite of the devotion of a
faithful servant, Hendrickje
Stoffels, and of his son,
Titus. But Rembrandt's
biography is of little import
ance, taking into account
the regular and logical de
velopment of his genius.
Like Hals, he passed
from a firm, but somewhat
frigid technique, to an
amazing boldness of hand
ling; he ended by painting
with all the . freedom of
Velasquez, though with a
very different system of
illumination. This system
is the essential character
istic of Rembrandt's manner. It
does not lie, as with Caravaggio,
in the brutal opposition of livid
whites to opaque blacks, but rather
in the blending by imperceptible gra
dations of the most brilliant light

FIG. 451. — THE SYNDICS.
REMBRANDT.
(Museum, Amsterdam.)

with the deepest shadow in the midst
of an ever luminous atmosphere.

234

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

Luminous atmosphere ! I had almost
said luminous shadow — this was Rem
brandt's great achievement. Just as
Michelangelo created a race of giants
for his own use, and manipulated them
as his genius dictated, so Rembrandt
created a light all his own, which is
possible without being real, and
plunged all nature into this bath of
gold. Everything in Rembrandt's sum of
achievement — large compositions like
the Night Watch (1642), which is, in
reality, the march-out of a company of

career (1609-1669), Rembrandt essayed
nearly every subject which could invite

FIG. 452. — ST. MATTHEW.
REMBRANDT.
(The Louvre.)
crossbowmen in broad daylight — like
the Syndics, also in the Amsterdam
Ryksmuseum, like the Manoah's Sacri
fice at Dresden ; compositions minute
as to scale, but infinitely great in
conception, like the Philosophers and
the Supper at Emmaus in the- Louvre ;
portraits of himself, of his wife,
Saskia, of his servant ; landscapes, still-
life pieces, — all partake of this same
character, which becomes more and
more pronounced as the master be
comes freer, as he gives himself up
more completely to his genius.
In the course of his long and prolific

FIG. 453. — PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT WITH
HAGGARD EYES.
REMBRANDT. (Etching.)
an artist's brush. His universality is
equalled only by the originality of his
vision, thanks to which he gave new
life to the most commonplace motives,
and to themes which had been treated
again and again by his predecessors.
It is true that he did not see Nature

FIC 454. — REMBRANT'S MOTHER.
REMBRANDT. (Etching.)
with the eyes of the Italians of the
Renaissance ; he preferred character

235

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
to beauty, and sought to express the
infinite by light rather than by ,:

me.

FIG. 455. — THE BANQUET OF THE GUILD OF
CROSSBOWMEN.
B. VAN DER HELST.
(Museum, Amsterdam.)
But his glory need not fear comparison
with any other. Familiarity with his
genius brings ever-increasing appre
ciation of its greatness ; and he who
can delight in it has learned in a great
school (Figs. 445-454).
Like Diirer, Rembrandt appealed
not only to the rich but to the poor ;
he reached the masses with his

FIG. 456. — INTERIOR.
PIETER DE HOOCH.
(National Gallery, London.)
incomparable etchings, the charm of
which lies not only in the colour —

no other master ever made white paper
radiate as he did — but in the inimitable
expressive power of the line, where the
slightest stroke, the slightest emphasis
give utterance to a deep intention, a
strong emotion. Everyone knows the
unfinished plate called The Hundred
Guilder Print, representing Christ
healing the sick; or at least everyone
in London and in .Paris should know
it, for there are fine impressions of it
in the Print Room of the British

FIG. 457. — THE ARTIST IN HIS STUDIO.
JAN VER MEER (OF DELFT).
(Czernin Collection, Vienna.)
(Photo, by Stoedner, Berlin.)
Museum, in the Cabinet des Estampes,
and in the Dutuit Collection.
As a portrait-painter Rembrandt had
a rival in Van der Heist of Haarlem,
the author of the famous portrait-
group of the Archers' Guild of Amster
dam (Fig. 455). Set side by side with
Rembrandt, he seems somewhat cold:
but how many painters can bear the
ordeal of such juxtaposition? There
are perhaps two who do not suffer
from it; one is Pieter de Hoogh, who

236

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

worked at Amsterdam (1630-1677),
and who, under Rembrandt's influence,

r~

FIG. 458/ — THE MILL.
M. HOBBEMA.
(The Louvre.)
learned to shed a light at once intense
and diffused over his canvases. He is
a painter1 of quiet interiors bathed in
sunlight, with glimpses into an outer
world in which a warm and velvety
atmosphere seems to circulate (Fig.
456). The other is the prodigious Ver-

FIG. 459. — THE BULL.
PAUL POTTER.
(Museum, The Hague.)

meer of Delft (1632-1675, also influ
enced by Rembrandt, the author of

some dozen luminous masterpieces
which are among the most beautiful
works in the world ; the finest of them
is in the Czernin collection at Vienna
(Fig. 457)-
It is always irksome to have to ob
serve limits in the rapid review of a
great school. But how doubly painful
is the duty of brevity, when it compels
us to pass over landscape-painters like
Van Goyen, Aart van der Neer, and
Hobbema (Fig. 458), the rival of Ruis-
dael ; animal-painters like Paul Potter
(Fig. 459), and Cuyp (Fig. 460), the
greatest of all masters in this genre;
painters of gallant and domestic mo
tives such as Terborch (Fig. 461),

FIG. 460— DUTCH LANDSCAPE WITH CATTLE.
A. CUYP.
(National Gallery, London.)
Metzu, and Steen (Fig. 463), who are
great masters of their craft', and
Gerard Dou and Mieris, who. are
delightful exponents of it. I have
said nothing of the painters of church
interiors, of flowers, fruit, still-life, and
poultry-yards. The task of sketching
the history of art in twenty-five rapid
summaries has never seemed so
difficult to me as now. I will only add
that all these gifted men appeared and
disappeared in a short space of time.

237

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

In the eighteenth century there is not
a single great artist in Holland.

FIG. 461. — THE MUSICIAN.
TERBORCH.
(Museum, Berlin.)
Dutch painting became minute and
china-like, in imitation of Gerard Dou
and Mieris; academicism and Italian-
ism held sway ; a long twilight
succeeded to the most brilliant of
days. In Catholic ' Flanders, painting
reckons fewer great names, but among
them is one of the greatest of all time
that of Rubens.
The Italian style, that insidious
enemy of Northern art, had taken
possession of Flanders from the middle
of the sixteenth century. Of the two
masters of Rubens, one, Adam van
Noort, is almost unknown ; the other,
Otto Venius, was a distinguished,
but frigid Italianiser. Born in 1577,
Rubens studied at Antwerp. In 1600,
at the age of 23, his talent was already
formed. He then travelled to Italy,
and remained there eight years, chiefly
at Genoa, where he became famous as

the portrait-painter of the aristocracy.
In 1609 he settled at Antwerp, and
set out on a triumphal career which
was only interrupted by his sudden
death in 1640. Like Jan van Eyck,
Rubens was entrusted with diplomatic
missions and lived on terms of intimacy
with kings and princes. He was
wealthy, greatly admired, the head of
a numerous band of pupils who helped
him in his overwhelming undertakings ;
in 161 1 he wrote to a friend that he
had been obliged to refuse over a
hundred pupils. Rubens had a special
tariff for the pictures he painted and
those of which he merely superin
tended the execution.
But the canvases on which he rep
resented himself with the two women
he successively married, Isabella

FIG. 462. — THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.
P. P. RUBENS.
(Cathedral, Antwerp.)
Brandt and Helena Fourment, or the
beautiful children they bore him, are,

238

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

like his sketches, entirely by his own
hand, and suffice to prove that the
great paintings to which he owes his
fame were to a great extent sketched
out and finished by himself (Fig. 464).
Rubens was a creator of unparalleled
fecundity; a portrait-painter, land
scape-painter, a painter of religious,
historical, allegorical, and domestic
subjects, of hunting-pieces, fetes and
tournaments. He had a passion for
grandiose decoration ; even his small
pictures, which are comparatively rare,
look like reductions of huge canvases.
The modifications in his manner as he
advanced in years are not very im
portant. His handling, at first smooth
and slightly thin, became bolder and
more expeditious; but he never loaded
his impasto, and always remained
faithful to a very simple palette, from
which he drew a thousand different

remained, that of an eloquent narrator,
himself amused by his loquacity,

FIG. 463. — THE CONSULTATION.
JAN STEEN.
(Museum, Amsterdam.)
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts.)
effects with the skill of a magician.
His style was from the beginning, and

FIG. 464. — THE PAINTER AND HIS WIFE AND CHILD.
RUBENS.
(Alphonse de Rothschild's Collection, Paris.)
playing with difficulties, never moved
or troubled, even when he moves and
troubles others, never harassing him
self with subtle research, loving
beautiful forms and rich colours, de
lighting in clarity and strength rather
than in depth and distinction. His
numerous obligations to the an
tique, the Venetian masters, Michel
angelo and Caravaggio, in no
degree impaired his somewhat
vulgar originality, the reflex of an
essentially Flemish temperament, in
which sensuality was always on the
alert, even when he treated sacred
subjects. The Venetians too, alone
among the Italians, were more sens
ual than intellectual ; but with them
sensuality is beautified by a higher
aspiration, rising from the individual
to the type : whereas Rubens is a giant
who seizes Nature with eager hands,
kisses her with an eager mouth; he is

239

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

not concerned to express the in
expressible, nor even the hidden
delicacy of things. Compare the
naked women in Giorgione's Concert
with any one of Rubens' redundant
nudities, and you will be able to
measure the interval that separates
poetry from prose, the form dreamt
of from the form actually seen, even
in the higher regions of art.
The Descent from the Cross, in Ant-

FIG. 465. — THE CRUCIFIXION.
(Le Coup de Lance.)
RUBENS.
(Museum, Antwerp.)
werp Cathedral, is generally, but by no
means correctly, described as Rubens'
masterpiece. This picture was painted
in 161 1, directly after his return from
Italy. It is a magnificent canvas, but
one of the least Flemish and least
characteristic of the master's works.
Italian influences are apparent not only
in the composition, which is for the
most part borrowed, but in the colour,

. 1 ¦

|9

mm wMm
1 Bar a i&uWm

^^3fcL^L~"

FIG. 466. — THE MIRACLE OF ST. IGNATIUS.
RUBENS.
(Museum, Vienna.)
which is still timid (Fig. 462). On the
other hand, the Coup de Lance (Cruci
fixion), in the Antwerp Museum, dated
1620, belongs to the period of Rubens'
FIG. 467. — THE RAPE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF
LEUC1PPUS BY CASTOR AND POLLUX.
RUBENS.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)
splendid maturity, immediately before
the extraordinary rapid execution of the
240
SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

FIG. 468. — THE CORONATION OF MARIE DEI MEDICI.
RUBENS.
(The Louvre.)

twenty-four great pictures of the
Medici Gallery in the Louvre (1622,
1623). The Coup de Lance reveals all
the genius of Rubens, and all its
limitations. In vain are the composi
tion learned, the colour glowing, the
faces expressive ; this theatrical art is
altogether earthy and material ; it ap-

style is florid and full of imagery. It
was just such declamatory and emo
tional pictures as this that the Jesuits
demanded ; to dazzle, to seduce, to
speak plainly, and strike hard — such
was the programme of these protectors

FIG. 469. — A FAMILY BANQUET.
JORDAENS.
(Museum, Dresden.)
(Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann.
Leipzig.)

FIG. 470. — TWO YOUNG ENGLISH GENTLEMEN.
VAN DYCK.
(Lord Darnley's Collection, Cobham Hall.)

peals to the sensibility of the herd, not of the arts. To Rubens belongs the
to that of the elect. It is like the ser- dubious honour of having carried it out
mon of a grandiloquent preacher, whose better than any other artist. His pic-
241 R

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

ture lacks the pearly and mysterious
note, an echo from the Fioretti of the
Saints of Assisi, which breathes from

FIG. 471. — PIETA.
VAN DYCK.
(Museum, Antwerp.)
a Florentine picture of the Golden
Age. If, in this domain, Rubens is inferior
to the Italians and even to the Span
iards, how greatly he surpasses them
all in pictures where a robust gallantry,
brilliance, sensuality even, are appro
priate to the theme, as in his admirable
Rape of the Leucippidce, at Munich, the
dare-devil Kermess in the Louvre, and
a score of dashing Hunting Scenes.
As a portrait-painter, especially as the
limner of his own family, he is no less
marvellous ; and if Rembrandt and
Titian surpass him in depth of expres
sion, he has a power they lack of initiat
ing the spectator into his joy of life,
the optimism of his love and health.
Then there are his landscapes, his
animals, his garlands of flowers and
angels ! The commission appointed at
Antwerp in 1879 t0 collect reproduc
tions of all his works, reckoned up a
total of 2,235 in museums and private
collections, all of which they had not
exhausted. In all history there is no
other such example of fecundity com
bined with such imaginative power and
such prodigious creative faculty.

Rubens' fellow-student, Jordaens, a
brilliant but vulgar painter (1593-1678),
sometimes caricatures Rubens, and at
others appears as his compeer in bois
terous good-humour. Rubens' best
pupil, Van Dyck, was of a very differ
ent stamp (1599-1631). If Jordaens is
Rubens at the Kermess, Van Dyck is
Rubens as ambassador. He spent the
greater part of his life in Italy and in
England, in a world of princes and
great ladies, whose favourite painter he
was, and who delighted in his elegance
and his courtly manners. His aristo
cratic portraits, which reflect his deli
cate nature, are psychological and his
torical documents of the highest value,
as well as a feast for the eyes. As a
painter of sacred subjects, he is distin
guished without being powerful ; but
his delightful colour, more subtle in its
gradations than that of Rubens, atones
for a touch of effeminacy in his draw
ing and of conventionality in his pathos.
It is difficult to understand how an art
ist so constantly taking part in the

FIG. 472.  KERMESSE.
D. TENIERS.
(Pinacothek, Munich.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)

diversions of a Court, and who lived
barely forty-four years, could have

242

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NETHERLANDS ART

painted nearly 1,500 pictures, the ma
jority of them portraits, and also have
executed a very considerable number
of engravings. It is true that he was
largely aided by assistants — in most of
his full-length portraits only the heads
are entirely by his own hand — but, nev
ertheless, his extraordinary industry is
only surpassed by that of Rubens.
Genre-painting developed less bril
liantly in Catholic Flanders than in
Holland ; but David Teniers of Ant
werp (1610-1690), who was inspired
by Rubens, is one of the greatest paint
ers of peasants. The wine-shop, the
fair, the booth have no secrets for him,
and his touch is as brilliant as his
observation. Twenty other names rise to my lips,
names of genre-painters, landscape-
painters, still-life painters ; but what
would it profit us to give them, verba et
voces, without the few words of infor
mation that would fix their artistic rank.
I prefer to be silent rather than to

enumerate them merely. Purely verbal
erudition is especially odious in the his-

-THE TEMPTATION OF ST.
TENIERS.
(The Louvre.)

tory of art, for this history deals with
the filiation of styles, and it would de
stroy the very conception of this to
make it mere matter for recitation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XXII.

E. Fromentin, Les Maitres d' autrefois, Paris, 1880; A. J. Wauters, La Peinture fiamande,
Paris, 1883; H. Havard, La Peinture hollandaise, Paris, 1881; W. Bode, Studien zur
Geschichte der holldndischen Malerei, Brunswick, 1883; A. Riegl, Das hollandische Grup-
penporlrdt (Jahrbiicher of the Vienna Museums, vol. xxiii., 1902, p. 71); H. Delaborde,
La Gravure, Paris, no date; F. Lippmann, Der Kupferslich, Berlin, 1893.
G. Davies, Frans Hals, London, 1902; E. Michel, Rembrandt, Paris, 1893 (English
trans., London, 1894); C. Neumann, Rembrandt, Stuttgart, 1903; A. Breal, Rembrandt,
London, 1902; Hope Rea, Rembrandt, London, 1903; W. Bode, Die Bildnisse der Saskia
als Braut und junge Gattin (Jahrbiicher of the Berlin Museums, 1897, p. 82); W. Bode et
Ch. Sedelmeyer, Rembrandt, Catalogue illustre de son oeuvre, 6 vols, fol., Paris, 1897-1901
(2000 francs) ; F. Lippmann and C. Hofstede de Groot, Zeichnungen von Rembrandt, Berlin,
1901; Ch. Blanc, VCEuvre complet de Rembrandt (reproductions of etchings, many not
by Rembrandt), Paris, 1880; W. von Seidlitz, Kritisches Verzeichnis der Radierungen
Rembrandts, Leipzig, i., 1895.
A. Rosenberg, Adrian und Isack van Ostade, Bielefeld, 1900; W. Burger, Jan Vermeer
(Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1866, i., p. 297); E. Michel, Gerard ter Borch (ibid., 1886, ii., p.
388); A. Rosenberg, Terborch und Jan Steen, Bielefeld, 1896; Martin David, Gerard Dow,
London, 1902; E. Michel, Les Cuyp (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892, i., p. 1); Jacob van

243

S. 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
Ruysdael et les Paysagisles de VEcole de Harlem, Paris, 1892 (see Everdingen, Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 1902, ii., p. 262); P. Mantz, Van Goyen (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1875-1878).
M. Rooses, Rubens, 5 vols. (432 pi.), Paris, 1886-1892; Rubens, sa vie et ses muvres,
Anvers, 1901; E. Michel, Rubens, Paris, 1900 (English trans., London, 1899); E. Knack
fuss, Rubens, Bielefeld, 1895; J. Guiffrey, Antoine van Dyck, Paris, 1882; L. Cust,
Anthony van Dyck, London, 1900; H. Hymans, Van Dyck (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899,
ii., p. 226); Max Rooses, Chefs-d'oeuvre d' Antoine van Dyck, Anvers, 1901; Antoine van
Dyck, Paris, 1902; E. Knackfuss, Van Dyck, Bielefeld, 1896.

244

XXIII
THE ART OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY IN
FRANCE

The Imitation of the Italian Art in France. — Jean Cousin. — Philippe de Champaigne. —
Jacques Callot. — Simon Vouet. — The Frigidity of French Art in the XVIIth Century.
— Le Brun, Nicolas Poussin. — Le Sueur. — Jouvenet. — Claude Lorrain. — Hippolyte
Rigaud. — Largilliere. — Mignard. — Moliere the Apologist of Academic Art. — The
Sculptors of the Grand Siecle: Guillain, Girardon, the Coustous, and Coysevox. —
Puget. — The Industrial Arts under Louis XIV. — The Foundation of the Gobelins.
— Boulle and Caffieri. — The Decadence of French Art at the Close of Louis XIV's
Reign.

At the beginning of the seventeenth
century, French art, both painting and
sculpture, was given over to the imita
tion of the Italians. The favourite ex
emplars among these were themselves
eclectics, and the works
they inspired were gen
erally inferior to their
own. Jean Cousin, the
author of the Last Judg
ment in the Louvre, was
a mediocre artist, an
illustrator of books
rather than a painter,
who by no means de
serves the title given him
of " founder of the na
tional school." With the
exception of immigrant
Flemings, like Philippe
de Champaigne, a Brus
sels master, who is rep
resented by several ad
mirable portraits in the Louvre, there
were few distinguished artists in France
before the accession of Louis XIV.
One, however, Jacques Callot of Nancy,

claims an honourable place; he was a
pitiless realist, who drew and engraved
beggars and incidents of war (1593-
1635) (Fig. 475). This popular vein
which was destined soon to be stifled

FIG. 474. — FRAGMENT OF THE LAST JUDGMENT.
JEAN COUSIN.
(The Louvre.)

by official art, was also worked by the
three brothers Le Nain, who were all
received as members of the Academy
of Painting on the same day. They

245

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

are akin to the Dutch in their choice of
familiar and intimate subjects, but their
painting is black and heavy; the influ-

FIG. 475. — THE CRIPPLE.
J. CALLOT.
(Engraving.)

ence of Caravaggio told unfavourably
upon them (Fig. 476).
The most popular and prolific painter
of the reign of Louis XIII. was Simon
Vouet (1590-1649), an imitator of the
Carracci, who lived in Rome fourteen
years before he was appointed painter
to the king. He was a conscientious
artist, distinguished by that somewhat
cold and solemn integrity that often
gave a certain prestige to mediocrity in
the art of the " great century."
The most famous members of his
school were Le Brun, Le Sueur, and
Mignard, who were more gifted than
himself, but who drew their inspiration
from his examples and his lessons.

Famous names in the history of paint
ing abound in the reign of Louis XIV. :
Poussin, Le Sueur, Le Brun, Jouvenet,
Claude Lorrain, Hippolyte Rigaud, Lar
gilliere, Mignard, and many others.
Yet when we pass from the great Italian
gallery in the Louvre to that of the
French painters of the seventeenth cen
tury, we cannot but feel chilled, and
even to some extent, bored. But if we
take two or three pictures, even at ran
dom, and study them closely, we dis
cover certain fine qualities due to tech
nical knowledge and conscientious
work, together with an air of nobility
by no means superficial. Even so, how
ever, the impression of coldness per
sists. All these artists, indeed, lacked
fire and passion; they were over-intel
lectual; they rationalised their concep
tions over-much, and above all, they
lacked freedom ; some . were held in
thrall by classic and Italian models,
others by French academicism, of which
Le Brun was the high priest.

FIG. 476. — PEASANTS AT TABLE.
LE NAIN.
(The Louvre.)

This Le Brun was a fine draughts
man in the grand style, a learned and
inventive decorator, but a wearisome

246

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ART IN FRANCE

painter, and a servile and tyrannical
courtier. Quinault wrote thus to him :
"Au siecle de Louis l'heureux sort te fit
nai tre.
II lui fallait un peintre, il te fallait un
maitre."
No satire could be more mordant than
this eulogy. Although Le Brun showed
something akin to genius in his decora
tions of the Galerie d'Apollon in the
Louvre, and indisputable talent in the
designs of his Battles of Alexander,
which are spoilt by their ugly brownish
colour, he was par excellence the type of

HG. 477. — SHEPHERDS, OF ARCADIA.
N. POUSSIN.
(The Louvre.)

the official painter, under a regime when
it was the function of art to glorify
absolute power, to subserve and con
tribute to its pomp. For even art in
the seventeenth century was kept in
tutelage. Mazarin and Colbert founded
the Academies of Painting, Sculpture,
and Architecture. Le Brun, who was
life director of the Academy of Paint
ing, and ruled from 1648 till his death in
1690, controlled the artists of his time
as if they had been a company of guards
and he their captain. He cannot be

accused of having favoured only the in
capable, but he certainly stifled or dis
couraged independence.

FIG. 478.— THE FORD.
CLAUDE LORRAIN.
(The Louvre.)
The greatest artist of the period,
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), passed
nearly his whole life in Italy. Sum
moned to Paris in 1641 to direct certain
official works, he was so disgusted by
the intrigues of the Court that he made
a pretext for returning to Italy. Pous
sin had admirable gifts, a delicate, Ra-
cinian sentiment, and a fine sense of

-THE LANDING OF CLEOPATRA.
CLAUDE LORRAIN.
(The Louvre.)

grand historic landscape. But his pic
tures, thovigh vigorously conceived and

247

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

composed, are painted bas-reliefs. His
figures, always correctly drawn, are
curiously insignificant ; there is nothing
individual in their features, nothing

FIG. 480. — PORTRAIT OF BOSSUET.
H. RIGAUD.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)

what over-rated painter, whose work,
preserved almost in its entirety in the
Louvre, is interesting when carefully
studied, but unattractive as a whole.
In the twenty-two pictures dealing with
the life of St. Bruno, there are many
excellent compositions, and even some
very fine figures. But the imitation of
Raphael is as obvious as is the lack of
warmth and inspiration. His colour,
less dull than that of Poussin, is harsher
and cruder. Those who call him the
Racine of painting must have mis-read
the poet, or confounded him with Cam-
pistron. Jean Jouvenet (1647-1717) the pro
tege of Le Brun, was, like him, an imi
tator. His Descent from the Cross has
been given a place of honour in the
Salon Carre of the Louvre, and holds
it satisfactorily. It is superior to kin
dred compositions by the Bolognese;
but it shows more rhetoric than elo
quence, more academic knowledge than
emotion.

vibrant in their flesh. Poussin painted
many Bacchanals without a smile, with
out a touch of voluptuousness. His
colour is at once dull and harsh, a kind
of polychromy applied reluctantly, and
as an afterthought. His landscape
backgrounds alone are harmonious in
their discreet tonality. A slave to the
antique, he was also in bondage to alle
gory. One of his best works, the Shep
herds of Arcadia (Fig. 477), is unintel
ligible without a commentary, and even
now it is not quite certain what he
meant by it. Nevertheless, Poussin's
renderings of Scriptural subjects are
among the finest illustrations that have
been made of the Bible. In this do
main he hardly falls short of Raphael.
Le Sueur (1616-1655) was a some-

FIG. 481. — PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST WITH HIS
WIFE AND DAUGHTER.
N. DE LARGILLIERE.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
Claude Lorrain (1610-1682) lived in
Italy like his friend Poussin, and was
the favourite of three successive Popes.

248

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ART IN FRANCE

He is the undisputed master of that
false and conventional style which is
called Italian landscape, in which the
great background of nature, skilfully
manipulated, serves as setting for a
historical or mythological composition.
Claude Lorrain's temples, trees, and
rocks have little reality, his figures even
less; but what redeems his pictures, and
ensures them legitimate admiration, is
the poetic sentiment of space, sky,
water, and light. This flood of light,
never darkened by a single cloud, has
a certain artificial and theatrical charac
ter, compared with the diffused light of
a Cuyp or a Vermeer ; but there is a kind
of heroic beauty in Claude's sunlit land
scapes (Figs. 478, 479). Turner, who
bequeathed his pictures to the National
Gallery of London, requested that his
two greatest works should be placed

great luminist of the seventeenth cen
tury upon his more richly gifted rival
of the nineteenth.

FIG. 482. — LOUIS XIII.
SIMON GUILLAIN.
(The Louvre.)

there side by side with two master
pieces by Claude. They still hang to
gether, and attest the influence of the

FIG. 483. — THE DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY
AS DIANA.
COYSEVOX.
(The Louvre.)

From the beginning of the reign of
Louis XIV. to our own times, France
has produced excellent portraits. Por
traiture has become a national art, and
strangers come from afar to sit to dis
tinguished French portrait - painters.
This is to be explained by the fact that
the academic convention has less force
in this than in any other genre. The
artist, whether he will or no, is con
fronted with nature, in contact with
her, and he must perforce open his eyes
and look at her. In the reign of Louis
XIV., however, life had become so arti
ficial that even portraits take on an air
of affectation and tension ; we may in
stance Hippolyte Rigaud's portraits of
Louis XIV. and of Bossuet (Fig. 480),
which are fine works, but fine in a cold
and pompous style. The best of the

249

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

portrait-painters of this period was
Largilliere; his masterpiece, a family
group of himself, his wife and his
daughter, is in the Salle Lacaze, in the
Louvre (Fig. 481). It is a charming
work, but one which makes us smile
perhaps rather more broadly than the
artist intended us to do ; the digni
fied attitude of the parents is so prim,
the young girl's grace so mincing!
Mignard, the adversary of Le Brun,

FIG. 484. — MILO OF CROTONA.
PUGET.
(The Louvre.)

epistle by the great poet is very in
structive; it shows us what criticism
demanded of art in the seventeenth cen
tury. According to Moliere, it should
be:—

"Assaisonne du sei de nos graces antiques,
Et non du fade godt des ornements
gothiques,
Ces monstres odieux des siecles ignorants,
Que de la barbarie ont produit des tor
rents,
Quand leurs cours, inondant presque
toute la terre
Fit a la politesse une mortelle guerre
Et de la grande Rome abattant les rem-
parts
Vint, avec son Empire, etouffer les Beaux-
Arts."

The duty of French artists was clearly
to imitate the antique, to despise the
national tradition, and to make full
restitution of the rights of "politeness."
This is pretty well ; but let us hear the
sequel : — ¦

'II nous dicte amplement les lecons de
dessin,
Dans la maniere grecque et dans le gout
romain,
Le grand choix du vrai beau, de la belle
nature,
Sur les restes exquis de l'antique sculp
ture."

and his successor as Director of the
Academy of Painting, is a seductive
portraitist, though his handling is
timid and pedantic. His name has
passed into the French language as a
synonym for affected elegance (mig-
nardise). In his own day he was
chiefly famous as a painter of large
compositions, notably his frescos in the
cupola of the Val -de-Grace Chapel,
which were lengthily and emphatically
eulogised by Moliere. This mediocre

Painting that imitates sculpture ! This
was, in fact, the pernicious ideal of
Academicism. It is equally ready with
its formula in the matter of colour : —

"Et quel est ce pouvoir qu'au bout des
doigts tu portes
Qui sait faire a nos yeux vivre des choses
mortes
Et d'un peu de melange et de bruns et
de clairs
Rendrc esprit la couleur, et les pierres
des chairs."

2SO

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ART IN FRANCE

Moliere seems to have a great opinion
of these " browns " ; he returns to the
charge a little further on : —
"Le gracieux repos que, par des soins
communs
Les bruns donnen. aux clairs, comme les
clair aux bruns."
Antique art for drawing, browns and
high tones for painting, such were the
formula? of great art. Not one word of
nature as .we see it, as it presents itself
to us without any intermediary. And
the supreme judge in art matters was,
not the public, not any among the
artists themselves, but Louis XIV.,
whose preferences were infallible : —
"Mais ce qui plus que tout eleve son
merite,
C'est de l'auguste Roi l'eclatante visite,
Ce monarque dont l'ame, aux grandes
qualites,
Joint un gout delicat des savantes beautes,
Qui, separant le bon d'avec son appar-
ence
Decide sans erreur et loue avec prudence
Louis, le grand Louis, dont l'esprit sou-
verain
Ne dit rien au hasard et voit tout d'un
ceil sain,
A verse de sa bouche, a ees graces bril-
lantes
De deux precieux mots les douceurs cha-
touillantes,
Et Ton sait qu'en deux mots ce Roi ju-
dicieux
Fait des plus beaux travaux l'eloge glori-

Such words from the pen of a man of
genius are even more nauseous than
ridiculous. In sculpture, as in painting, it was
portraiture which most worthily sus
tained the national tradition ; Simon
Guillain's Louis XIII. (Fig. 482) and
Girardon's Louis XIV., to mention but
two out of a hundred, are full of life

and spirit. Nevertheless, when Coyse-
vox (1640-1720), his pupils, the Cous-
tous (Figs. 483, 485), and even the
frigid Girardon, threw off the trammels
of allegory, their knowledge of form
and their innate nobility of taste showed
themselves in works that command re
spect. We recognise this when we look
at Coysevox's Fames at the entrance to
the Tuileries, and at Guillaume Cous-
tou's Horses of Marly at the entrance
to the Champs Elysees.
These sculptors were the favourites
of the Court and of the town ; the really

FIG. 485. — THE RHONE.
COUSTOU.
(Hotel de Ville, Lyon.)
great artist of the century was an inde
pendent and lonely figure, Pierre Puget
(1622-1694). Like Poussin and Claude
Lorrain, he lived principally in Italy
and in the South of France, far from
the desiccating tyranny of Le Brun.
Puget's genius, a somewhat academic
reflection of that of Michelangelo,
modified by the influence of Bernini,
was not appreciated at its true worth,
though Colbert, anxious to advance
him, commissioned him to decorate the
prows of the royal galleys. He was not
employed on the sumptuous decorations
of Versailles, where Girardon's empty

251

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

talent triumphed. His works have a
character of severe and haughty gran
deur, the impress of a solitary life de
voted to art, and of the noble pride
which made him say at the age of sixty,
after finishing his Milo of Crotona (Fig.
484) : " I feed upon great works, I soar
when I am at work upon them, and the
marble trembles before me, however big
it may be."

FIG. 486. — BOULLE CABINET.
(Palace of Versailles.)
Louis XIV. was not content with the
institution of official painting and sculp
ture. He wished even the industrial
arts to bear the imprimatur of his
majesty, and in 1661 he founded the
Gobelins manufactory, where not only

carpets and hangings were made, but
furniture, goldsmiths' wares and can
delabra. What is known in furniture
as the Louis XIV. style is sometimes a
compromise between the Flemish tradi
tion and Italianism, sometimes a' sort
of severe Baroque, in which French
taste proclaims itself, notably in the
choice of materials and the fine quality
of the execution. Boulle, the furniture
maker, won lasting fame with his cabi
nets incrusted with copper, pewter, and
tortoiseshell ; they lack grace, but are
impeccable in technique. The great
worker in bronze and chaser of metals
of the period was Caffieri, an Italian
established in France.
The last twenty years of Louis XIV.'s
reign were a lamentable decadence. But
if the old king died all too slowly,
France, in spite of the disasters he had
let loose upon her, remained vital and
laborious, though impoverished by the
loss of thousands of skilled workmen
that the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes had driven out to Holland and
to Prussia. In the dull silence imposed
upon her by an effete despotism, she
was preparing the brilliant Renaissance
of the eighteenth century, which was to
burst forth like a trumpet-blast of de
liverance, on the very morrow of Le
Roi Soleil's death.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XXIII.

L. Gonse, La Sculpture frangaise depuis le XlVe siecle, Paris, 1894; Ch. Blanc, VEcole
jrangaise de peinture, 3 vols., Paris, 1862; O. Merson, La Peinture jrangaise au XVII'
et au XVIII" siecle, Paris, 1900; L. Gonse, Les Chejs-d'ceuvre des Musees de France, la
Peinture, Paris, 1900; E. Bourgeois, Le Grand Siecle, Paris, 1896; E. Miintz, V Enseigne-
ment des Beaux-Arts en France, le Siecle de Louis XIV. (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1895, if,
p. 367); L. Courajod, Legons projessees a VEcole du Louvre, vol. iii., Paris, 1903 (the origin
of modern art, the resistance of the national style to academicism); H. Lemonnier, VArt
au temps de Richelieu et de Mazarin, Paris, 1893.
E. Meaume, Recherches sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Callot, 2 vols., Paris, i860; G-
Grandin, La Familie Lenain (Reunion des Societes des Beaux-Arts, 1900, p. 475) ; H. Jouin,
252

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ART IN FRANCE
Ch. Le Brun el les Arts sous Louis XIV., Paris, 1890; O. Merson, Charles Le Brun (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1899, ii., p. 353); Ch. Le Brun a la Manufacture royale (ibid., 1895, i.: p.
89); J. Guiffrey, L Exposition des Gobelins (ibid., 1902, ii., p. 265); H. Bouchittd, Le Poussin,
Paris, 1858"; Eliz. Denio, Nicolas Poussin, Leipzig, 1898 (English trans., London, 1899);
P. Desjardins, Poussin, Paris, 1903; Mmc. Mark Pattison (Lady E. Dilke), Claude Lor-
rain, Paris, 1884; P. Mantz, Largilliere (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1893, ii., p. 89); E.
Michel, Etudes sur V Histoire de VArt, Paris, 1896 (Flemish landscape, Claude Lorrain).
A. Lagrange, P. Puget (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1865-1867); P. Auquier, Puget, Paris,
1903; G. le Breton, V Hercule de Puget au Musee de Rouen (ibid., 1888, i., p. 224); Lady
E. Dilke, Les Coustou (ibid., 1901, i., p. 1).
A. Molinier, Le Mobilier au XV He et au XVIIIe siecle, Paris, no date; Le Mobilier
frangais au Musee du Louvre, Paris, 1903; La Collection Wallace, Meubles et Objets d'art
jrangais, Paris, 1903; The Louis XIV. Style (Burlington Magazine, 1903; i., p. 25); H.
Havard, Les Boulle, Paris, 1893; J. Guiffrey, Les Caffieri, Sculpteurs et Fondeurs-Ciseleurs,
Paris, 1877; Chr. Scherer, Eljenbeinplaslik seit der Renaissance, Leipzig, 1903; E. Moli
nier, Les Ivoires, Paris, no date.

253

XXIV
FRENCH ART IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
THE RISE OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL
The Emancipation of Art after the Death of Louis XIV. — The School of Watteau. — The
Feminine Element in XVIIIth Century Art. — Coypel, Van Loo, Lagrenee. — Raphael
Mengs. — Antoine Watteau. — Lancret and Pater. — Boucher. — Fragonard. — The
Classical Reaction. — Winckelmann. — Piranesi. — The so-called Empire Style Origi
nated under Louis XVI. — Vien and David. — Diderot's Salons. — Chardin and Greuze.
— The French Portraitists of the XVIIIth Century: Maurice Quentin La Tour,
Nattier, Tocque, Madame Vigee Le Brun. — Eighteenth Century Sculpture. — Fal-
conel, Pigalle, Houdon. — The "The Boudoir Sculptors." — Clodion. — Canova. —
The English School. — Its Tardy Fruition. — Foreign Painters Working in England. —
Hogarth the First Representative English Painter. — The Great English Portraitists
of the XVIIIth Century. — The English School of Landscape. — Its Influence in other
Countries.

France breathed freely once more on
the death of Louis XIV. For fifteen
years past she had been but half alive,

FIG. 487. — FETE CHAMPETRE.
WATTEAU.
(Royal Palace, Berlin.)
(Wcermann, Geschichte der Malerei. Seemann,
Leipzig.)
holding her breath in an atmosphere of
suffering, mediocrity, and sour prudery.
Paris was transformed almost within
twenty-four hours. The actors of the
Italian theatre, expelled in 1697, re

turned to the capital ; fetes, balls, and
pleasure-parties took place on every
side. Society, with the Regent at its
head, determined to be gay and natural
once more. But, unable to shake off
all its habits in a day, it halted mid
way, and, instead of returning to true
nature, invented a nature of gallantry
and masquerade. As interpreters of its
love of pleasure, its elegance, its easy
morality, it found Watteau and his
successors. These charming painters, forming as
it were a garland that encircled the
eighteenth century, seem to many peo
ple to have summed up all its tastes.
But this is a mistaken notion. The cen
tury that rapturously applauded Vol
taire's dreary tragedies, that was
roused to enthusiasm by the Esprit des
Lois and Emile, was far from being a
frivolous age, although it was given to
frivolity, as to other amenities of social
life. It was still saturated with classi-

254

THE ART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

cism, and it was inevitable that it should
have been so, since education was based
exclusively on a study of the Greeks

FIG. 488. — WINTER.
LANCRET.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo by Neurdein.)
and Romans. But side by side with
this classical current, which was never
interrupted, and overflowed towards
the end of Louis XV.'s reign, there was
another, that had its rise in a reaction
of the French spirit against the tyran
nical supremacy of the past. This cur
rent reflected a desire for emancipation,
gaiety and amiable epicureanism, which
is one of the charms of the eighteenth
century. We are, it is true, accus
tomed to vilify it; we have all heard
covert allusions to the corruption of the
times, its license to which nothing was
sacred, its scandalous impiety. This is
because our educators were themselves
formed during the political and re
ligious reaction which occupied nearly
the whole of the nineteenth century,
and made a sort of bogey of its prede
cessor. This is not the place to attempt
a refutation of this prejudice; suffice
it to say that the eighteenth century,
taken as a whole, marked a return to
nature, to truth, to life. Pedants and

hypocrites, the Trissotins and Tartuffes,
the most dangerous enemies of the
French genius, should stand alone in
condemning it on these grounds.
In the seventeenth century the public
was mainly the King, as we have seen
from Moliere's verses to Mignard (pp.
250-1). In the eighteenth century it had
not yet come to mean everybody, but it
included a great number of courtiers,
men of letters and of science, citi
zens, financiers, and — above all — pretty
women. Art worked for them, to
please them, to affirm their attraction
and their power. We should seek in
vain in the eighteenth century for a
painter like Meissonier, whose brush
almost ignored woman. At no period
did she exercise a greater influence over
the intelligence; and if the reaction of
the nineteenth century dethroned her,

FIG. 489. — AUTUMN.
LANCRET.
(Edmond de Rothschild Collection, Paris.)
it is not unlikely that she will have her
revenge in our own day.
The advent of a new style in art did

255

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

not lead to the abolition of Academies
or of Academicism. The last disciples
of Le Brun join hands with Coypel,

FIG. 490. — THE BATHERS.
BOUCHER.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)

1702 and died in 1721. He had seen
some of Rubens' great canvases in his
native town; in Paris he saw others,
those of the Luxembourg series, now
in the Louvre (see p. 241). He also
made the acquaintance of a clever deco
rator, Gillot, who painted theatrical
subjects. His Fetes galantes and Fetes
pastorales owe something both to Ru
bens and to Gillot; but their poetry,
their delicate sensibility is all his own
(Fig. 487). The nineteenth century
long despised them, in the name of
" high art." But are we to find fault
with masterpieces such as the Embarka
tion for Cythera (1717) because they
glorify the joy of life and the delight
of sharing it with another? Is it not,
indeed, the function of art, or at least
a part of its function, to purify what is

Van Loo, and Lagrenee, the repre
sentatives of that empty and theatrical
art which preceded the more austere
academicism of Vien and of David.
There is little to say of these painters,
save that they were affected more per
haps than they themselves were aware,
by the delicate art that fluttered round
them. Some of Coypel's Scriptural
subjects, painted on a colossal scale,
look like over-grown paintings for fans.
The best representative of academicism
before David was not a Frenchman, but
an Italianised German, Raphael Mengs,
who lived mainly in Italy (1728-1779).
If this highly gifted artist produced no
masterpieces, it was because, like the
Carracci, he was led astray by the fatal
seductions of eclecticism, which knows
beauty only at second-hand.
The great master of the eighteenth
century school, the school of gallant
amenities, was Antoine Watteau of
Valenciennes, who came to Paris in

FIG. 491. — LE CHIFFRE D AMOUR.
FRAGONARD.
(Hertford House, London.)
(Photo, by Mansell.)
sensual by grace, to render beauty
amiable and attractive, to gladden life
and quicken its pulsations?

256

FRENCH ART IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Watteau is an exquisitely refined col
ourist, whose palate was as subtle as
that of Van Dyck; his weakness was

FIG. 492. — STUDY.
FRAGONARD.
(The Louvre.)

that the world appeared to him like a
scene at the opera lighted by Bengal
fire, that he felt neither passion nor
emotion, and trifled with the surface of
things. His imitators, Lancret and
Pater, more sensual and less delicate
than himself, were nevertheless true
artists (Figs. 488, 489). Can we say
the same of Boucher, the most prolific
of this generation of painters (1703-
1770) ? He was an ingenious decorator,
a draughtsman who delighted in those
undulating, sinuous lines which are, as
it were, the graphic formula of the
rococo style. But Boucher drew for ef
fect, without having studied nature ; he
painted his pictures like screens with a
monotonous prodigality of blue and
pink; his colour has a spurious gaiety,
but is often crude, pallid, and tart (Fig.

490). The Painter of the Graces, as he
was called, was, in truth, often super
ficial and vulgar. Fragonard (1732-
1806) was greatly superior to him; he
is even superior to Watteau in his sense
of reality and his ingenious variety of
motives (Figs. 491, 492). Poor Frago,
so lively and so radiant, died forgotten
and misunderstood under the Empire,
after having witnessed the triumph of
painters who reviled him as a corrupter
of public morals, and lacked both his
imagination arid his technical skill.
By the middle of the eighteenth cen
tury the wearisome frivolity of Boucher
and his numerous imitators had pro
voked a double reaction — on the one
hand, in favour of antique art; on the
other, in favour of moral art. We will
consider the former movement first.
It is often assumed that the classic
reaction began with the great Revolu-

3. — GRACE BEFORE MEAT.
CHARDIN.
(The Louvre.)

tion. This is an error; it was inaugu
rated in the reign of Louis XV. The
first important discoveries among the

257

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum
were made in 1755, and excited a lively
curiosity as to antique art. A Ger-

FIG. 494. — THE MORNING TOILETTE.
CHARDIN.
(Museum, Stockholm.)
Gazelle des Beaux- Arts.
man savant, Winckelmann (1717-1768),
struck by the decay of art in Germany
and Italy, exhorted artists to take their
models from antiquity. His History of
Art among the Ancients was translated
into French in 1764, and had a great
success in Paris. Meanwhile, from
1756 to 1785, the graceful and vigorous
burin of the Italian engraver, Piranesi,
multiplied reproductions of Roman
monuments, sculptured vases, candela
bra, and bas-reliefs. The influence of
these was not confined to the decorative
arts, though these were the first in
which it was apparent.
At the time of Louis XVI.'s acces
sion, in 1774, the taste of the day had
already turned to antiquity, the art and
manners of which were all the more
fervently admired because they were so
sharply opposed to those of the mo

ment. The new king — pious, a good
husband, of a somewhat narrow under
standing — established at least an out
ward show of decency at Court, which
was in sharp contrast with the riotous
license of the last years of Louis XV.
All these elements went to make up the
Empire style, which was considerably
anterior to Napoleon, though it dom
inated without a rival at the period
when. the reinstatement of the principle
of authority — in other words, of despot
ism — brought back in its train the
vagaries of the reign of Louis XIV.,
and upheld them for some fifteen years.
Vien and his pupil David were not,
then, the authors of the revolution by
which they profited; but it is only just
to say that they ensured its triumph in
painting, in which the taste for pink
and blue gallantries obstinately sur
vived after the death of Louis XIV.
The reign of the Greeks and Romans
began in 1784 with David's picture, the
Oath of the Horatii, a fine bas-relief,
flatly coloured, which was received with

495. — THE VILLAGE BRIDE.
GREUZE.
(The Louvre.)

a frenzy of admiration. The Revolu
tion and the Empire made David what
Le Brun had been under Louis XIV.,

258

FRENCH ART IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

FIG. 4p6. — INNOCENCE.
GREUZE.
(Hertford House, London.)

FIG. 497. — MADAME DE POMPADOUR.
QUENTIN LA TOUR.
(Pastel, in the Museum, St. Quentin.)

FIG. 498. — MADEMOISELLE DE LAMEEX AND THE
COMTE DE BRIONNE.
NATTIER.
(The Louvre.)

FIG. 409. — MADAME DE CRUSSOL.
MADAME VIGEE LE BRUN.
(Museum, Toulouse.)
Gazette des Beaux-Arts,

259

S 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the dictator of art : we shall see in
our next chapter how this dictatorship
came to an end.

FIG. 5°°-' — THE MILKMAID.
GREUZE.
(The Louvre.)
Gazette des Beaux-Arts.
In his famous essays on the Salons
of 1765 to 1767, Diderot can hardly find
terms of abuse sufficiently strong for
Boucher and his disciples — with whose

501. — MADAME RECAMIER.
. . DAVID.
(The Louvre.)

style he already contrasts " the grand
taste of classic severity" — or panegyrics
sufficiently fervid for Chardin and

Greuze, in whom he hails the moral
regenerators of art. According to
Diderot, it is not enough that art should
be decent ; he required that it should
preach the domestic virtues, benevo
lence, sensibility. Simon Chardin was
an excellent painter, akin to the Dutch
naturalists, though more refined than
they, who neither invited nor -deserved
Diderot's strange encomiums ; his paint
ing was anecdotic, familiar, and honest,
but above all it was good of its kind
(and " good painting is a mighty good
thing," as he himself said), a return to

FIG. 502. — STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT.
FALCONET.
(St. Petersburg.)
Nature as we see her in the light of
day, and not in the glare of the opera-
house (Figs. 493, 494). Greuze, on
his part, produced virtuous and senti
mental pictures, which seem barely tol
erable to-day. His Paternal Curse, a
sermon in paint, is a very wearisome
homily. But in the elements of his tal
ent, as they appear in his charming
heads of young girls, in his Broken
Pitcher, in his Milkmaid (Figs. 495, 496,
500), he shows himself an adherent of

260

THE ART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

the amiable and graceful art of the
eighteenth century. He helped to crush
Boucher, but was in his turn crushed
by David, who drew no nice distinc
tions between sensual and sentimental
art, when neither was inspired by
Greece and Rome. " We must go back
to raw antiquity," he said savagely. A
sculptor of the Revolutionary period,
an acolyte of David's, demanded that
all Flemish pictures should be pro
scribed, on the ground that " they ridi
cule human nature," and that all non-

FIG. 503. — VOLTAIRE.
HOUDON.
(Theatre Francais, Paris.)
patriotic subjects (by which we may
understand subjects not taken from
Plutarch) should be forbidden to artists.
The only branch of art which con
tinued to produce masterpieces in eigh
teenth-century France was portraiture.
The pastellist La Tour has bequeathed
to us a series of the most charming, the
most spirituel faces, touched in with
colours like the dust on the wings of
butterflies (Fig. 497). Nattier, per-

FIG. 504. — DIANA.
HOUDON.
(The Louvre.)
haps a little monotonous in his grace,
has left us many delicious portraits of
dainty, be-rouged womanhood (Fig.
498). Tocque, a profounder and more
learned artist, was the author of one of

FIG. SOS- — BACCHANALS.
CLODION.
(Edmond de Rothschild Collection, Paris.)

26l

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

the finest portraits in the Louvre, that
of Marie Leczynska, the neglected wife
of Louis XV. Madame Vigee-Lebrun,
who lived till 1842, but who belongs to
the reign of Louis XVI. by her talent,
painted susceptible, affected beauties
with a certain emotional grace (Fig.
499). Finally, the classicists, with
David at their head, produced admira
ble portraits ; confronted with living
nature, these learned men forgot Greece
and Rome, to find inspiration at the

FIG. 506. — CUPID AND PSYCHE.
CANOVA.
(The Louvre.)

fountain-head. The French school has
no better title to fame than the group
of portraits by David in the Louvre,
that of Madame Recamier (Fig. 501),
flanked by those of M. and Madame
Serizat. The two tendencies, frivolous and
academic, appear in juxtaposition, nay,
in intimate union, in the sculpture of
the -eighteenth century. The Louis
XIV. style survives in the great alle
gorical monuments and in mythological
groups; the new art manifests itself in

works of small dimensions and in por
traits. The earliest among the good
sculptors of the period, Lemoyne, was

FIG. 507. — SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.
ISAAC OLIVER.
(Miniature at Windsor Castle.)
still imbued with the tradition of
Coysevox and the Coustous ; he was
the master of Falconet, who executed.

262

FIG. 508. — COMTESSE DE GRAMONT.
LELY.
(Hampton Court Palace.)

THE ART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

the colossal Peter the Great at St. Peters
burg (Fig. 502), an academic and de
clamatory work ; in Paris, he produced

FIG. 509. — THE MARRIAGE A LA MODE.
HOGARTH.
(National Gallery, London.)
his charming Bather, and the Three
Graces of the famous Camondo clock.
The second half of the eighteenth cen-

FIG. SIO. — NELLY O BRIEN.
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
(Hertford House.)
fury witnessed the rise of two great
sculptors, Pigalle and Houdon ; the
first was the author of the magnificent

tomb of Marshal de Saxe in Strasburg
Cathedral, and of a seated Mercury, a
very happy imitation of the antique ;
the second, who may be ranked among
the greatest interpreters of nature, was
the sculptor of the incomparable Vol
taire in the Theatre Frangais, the
Dianas of the Louvre and of St. Peters
burg, and a long series of portraits
sparkling with truth and intelligence
(Figs. 503, 504). Among the boudoir

FIG. SII. — THE BLUE BOY.
CAINSBOROUGH.
(Grosvenor House, London.)
sculptors, whose talents were unfet
tered by scruples, but who were seduc
tive delineators of feminine grace, the
most fascinating was Clodion (Fig.
505). Like Fragonard, he outlived the
era of light manners, and, when the
Graeco-Roman reaction had changed
the tastes of his public, he was reduced
to sculpturing Cato for a livelihood.
Italy was the chief centre of the
classic Renaissance. Canova (1757-
1822) thought himself the rival of the

263

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Greeks, but was a very edulcorated
Praxiteles (Fig. 506) ; following in his
wake, the German Danneker, the Eng-

FIG. 512. — THE MORNING WALK.
GAINSBOROUGH.
(Lord Rothschild's Collection, London.)

lishman Flaxman, and the Dane Thor-
waldsen usurped reputations which
now fill us with amazement. About
the year 1800, this school reigned su
preme ; it was the apotheosis of false
elegance and insipidity. The distin
guishing characteristic of these artists
was that they had never felt the pulsa
tion of living flesh. Their idealism led
them to eliminate from art the main
element of its superiority to literature,
plastic expression and intensity.
England, turned aside from art by
Puritanism, long knew only imported
painters, such as Holbein, Rubens, and
Van Dyck. The beautiful works of a
few gifted miniaturists, such as Nich
olas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, alone
foreshadow the growth of a national
taste (Fig. 507). Under Charles I., this
taste began to manifest itself in an

awakened interest in art and beauty,
fostered by the king and by great
nobles such as Arundel, Pembroke, and
Buckingham, and directed by Rubens.
Great collections were formed, and
treasures such as Raphael's Cartoons
were acquired from abroad. The
King's own collection counted many
magnificent masterpieces. Dispersed
under the Commonwealth, they are
now among the gems of various Con
tinental galleries. The Louvre owns
several of the most famous. Van
Dyck, invited to London by Charles,
became the accredited painter of the
Court, and settling in England, may
be said to have founded the national
school. His immediate successors
were the Englishman, William Dob-
son, and the Scotchman, George Jame-
sone. Checked by the fanaticism of the

FIG. 513. — MRS. GRAHAM.
GAINSBOROUGH.
(National Gallery, Edinburgh.)

Revolution, art revived again in Eng
land under the auspices of another
foreigner in the reign of Charles II.

264

THE ART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The proficient technique and voluptu
ous manner of the Westphalian, Pieter
van der Fals, known as Sir Peter
Lely (1618-1680), embody the very
spirit of brilliant and cynical licence
that marked the reaction from Puritan
ism. His famous series of Court
" Beauties " at Hampton Court epito
mises the history of the Restoration
(Fig. 508). He was succeeded by an
other German of inferior gifts, Godfrey
Kneller (1646-1723), and by various
Frenchmen, Nicholas Largilliere among
the number, who worked chiefly as
decorators and restorers. Sir James
Thornhill (1676-1734), who imitated
their manner, is now remembered only
as the master of Hogarth, with whom
the representative art of England be
gan. Hogarth (1697- 1764) was a

FIG. 514. — MRS. MARK CURRIE.
ROMNEY.
(National Gallery, London.)
moralist, not gently sentimental like
Greuze, but harsh and satiric as Callot.
His reputation suffers from the persist
ence with which writers have dwelt

upon the subjects of his pictures, which
are witty and entertaining, for he was
also a master of technique — " the only
great English painter," according to

FIG. 515. — PORTRAIT OE A LADY.
HOPPNER.
(Fleischmann Collection, London.)
Whistler! He is best known by his
series of painted narratives, The Marri
age a la Mode, The Rake's Progress, The
Harlot's Progress, and the Election, but
he was also a portrait-painter of great
vigour and originality. It is important
to note that his pictures set forth edify
ing histories and dwell upon details,
for this didactic tendency has persisted
in English art (Fig. 509). It has been
justly said that Hogarth's anecdotic
rebus prepared the way for Burne-
Jones' psychological rebus.1
Towards the middle of the eighteenth
century a generation of remarkable
portrait-painters grew up under the
influence of Rubens and Van Dyck,
Titian and Murillo, whose master
pieces were already numerous in Eng-
1 R. de Ia Sizeranne, La Peinture anglaise
conlemporaine. Paris, 1895.

265

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

lish collections, and also under that of
French art, which was never more
popular than at this period. Unlike
the French portraitists, these English-

FIG. 516. — PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
RAEBURN.
(Schwabacher Collection, London.)
men were, above all, colourists, mas
ters of tonalities at once intense and
vaporous ; unlike the great Venetians,
they concerned themselves less with
truth than with grace. Their por
traits immortalise a highly polished
aristocracy, like that which furnished
sitters for Van Dyck, but healthier and
better equipped for action (Figs. 510-
517). Sir Joshua Reynolds is generally
accepted as the greatest representative
of this school, and his wider sympathies
and more intellectual vision may per
haps entitle him to the first place. But
Gainsborough surpasses him in purely
artistic qualities, in the incomparable
grace and spontaneity of his art. As
limners of character, of manly dignity
and vigour, of womanly beauty and
distinction, of childish grace and inno

cence, these masters need not fear com
parison with the greatest of any school.
Their successors, Allan Ramsay (1713-
1784), Romney (1734-1802), Hoppner
(1759-1810), Raeburn (1756- 1823),
though on a lower plane, worthily up
held their tradition, and in their finest
achievements, fall not very far short of
their masters (Figs. 514-516). With
Lawrence (1769-1830), the glory of the
English school of portraiture began to
pale. William Beechey (1753-1839)
was the last upholder of the great tra
dition that finally succumbed to the
puerilities of the early Victorian period.
Gainsborough has a double title to
fame, in that he was the father of the
English school of landscape and rustic
subjects. The path he marked out was
followed by John Crome (1769-1821),

FIG. 517. — MRS CUTHBERT.
LAWRENCE.
(Comte de Beistegin's Collection, Paris.)
Cotman (1782-1842), and others of the
so-called Norwich School, by George
Morland (1760-1804), and, above all,
by Constable (l776-l837),men who may

266

THE ART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
claim to be the creators of natural land- Italian tradition for inspiration ; the
scape, as opposed to the beautiful un- English were the first to cast off these
realities of Claude, and of his English trammels, and to venture upon " setting
disciple, Richard Wilson (1714-1782). up an easel in the fields." Thence-
Taking up the tradition of Ruysdael, forth, England became an important
they transformed it with their insular factor in the artistic activity of the
originality, and inaugurated the mod- world ; she continues to give more than
ern landscape school. The best French she' receives, and both in portraiture
landscapes of the eighteenth century, and landscape remains English, essen-
if we except one or two small canvases tially English, though French art reigns
by Joseph Vernet, still looked to the supreme almost everywhere else.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XXIV.
P. Lacroix, Le Dix-huilicme siecle, Paris, 1875 ; E. et J. de GonCourt, VArt du XVIIIe
siecle, 3rd ed., 2 vols., Paris, 1880-1883; Lady E. Dilke, French Engravers and Draughts
men oj the XVIIIth century, London, 1903; C. Justi, Winckelmann und seine Zeitgenossen,
2nd ed., Leipzig, 1898; P. Seidel, Die Kunstsammlung Friedrichs des Grossen auj der
Weltausstellung, Berlin, 1900 (French trans., Paris, 1901).
A. Valabregue, Claude Gillot (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, i., p. 385); P. Mantz, A.
Watteau, Paris, 1892 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1889, i., p. 5); A. Rosenberg, Watteau,
Bielefeld, 1896; E. Hannover, Watteau, Berlin, 1889; G. Seailles, Watteau, Paris, 1901;
L. de Fourcaud. Watteau (Revue de VArt, 1901, i., p. 87) ; Th. de Wyzewa, Watteau (Revue
des Deux-Mondes, 15 September, 1903).
P. Mantz, Boucher, Lemoyne et Naloire, Paris, 1880; A. Michel, Boucher, Paris, 1886;
O. Fidiere, Alex. Roslin (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, i., p. 45) ; P. Mantz, Nattier (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1894, ii., p. 91); P. de Nolhac, Nattier (ibid., 1895, i., p. 457); P- Mantz,
Louis Tocqui (ibid., 1894, ii., p. 455); L. de Fourcaud, Chardin, Paris, 1900 (cf. Revue
de VArt, 1899, ii., p. 383); Lady E. Dilke, Chardin (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, ii., p.
177); Ch. Normand, Simeon Chardin, Paris, 1902; M. Tourneux, Les Colson (Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 1898, ii., p. 337); R. Portalis, Fragonard, Paris, 1899; E. de Goncourt, La
Tour (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1867, i., p. 127); M. Tourneux, La Tour (ibid., 1899, i., p.
485); J. Flammermont, Les Portraits de Marie-Antoinette (ibid., 1897, ii., p. 283; 1898, i.,
p. 183); H. Bouchot, Boilly (Revue de VArt, 1899, i., p. 339); P. Seidel, A. Pesne (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1891, i., p. 318); H. Bouchot, Mme. Vigee Le Brun (Revue de VArt, 1898,
i., p. 51); Ch. Pichot, Mme. Vigee Le Brun, Paris, 1892; Aubert, J.-M. Vien (Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 1867, i., p. 180).
L. Gonse, La Sculpture frangaise, Paris, 1895; Lady E. Dilke, French Architects and
Sculptors oj the XVIIIth century, London, 1900; A. Roserot, J.-B. Bouchardon, Paris,
1894; Rocheblave, Pigalle (Revue de VArt, 1902, ii., p. 267); H. Thirion, Les Adam et
les Clodion, Paris, 1885, J. Guiffrey, Clodion (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892, ii., p. 478);
A.-G. Meyer, Canova, Bielefeld, 1898.
A. de Champeaux, Le Meuble, 2 vols., Paris, 1 885-1901; Lady E. Dilke, French Fur
niture and Decoration in the XVIIIth century, London, 1902; E. Molinier, Le Mobilier
aux XVII' et XVIII' siecles, Paris, 1899 ; Le Musee du mobilier jrangais au Louvre (Gazette
des Beaux'-Arts, 1901, i., p. 441); P- de Nolhac, La Decoration de Versailles au XVIII'
siecle (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1895, i., p. 265; 1898, i., p. 63); G. Schefer, Le style Empire
267

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
sous Louis XV. (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1897, ii., p. 481); P. Lafond, VArt decoratij et le
Mobilier sous la Republique el VEmpire, Paris, 1900.
E. Chesneau, La Peinture anglaise, Paris, s. d. ; H. Bouchot, La Femme anglaise et
ses Peintres, Paris, 1903; A. Dobson et W. Armstrong, Will. Hogarth, London, 1892;
W. Armstrong, Sir Joshua Reynolds, London, 1901; Gainsborough, London, 1900 (French
transl.); Turner, 2 vols., London, 1902; A. Wherry, Turner, London, 1903; R.-S. Gower,
Thomas Lawrence, London, 1900; Th. de Wyzewa, Thomas Lawrence (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1891, i., p. 118); H. Maxwell, George Romney, London, 1903; CI. Philipps, John
Opie (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892, i., p. 299); A.-B. Chamberlain, Constable, London,
1903.

FIG. 518. — CHEST BY RIESENER.
(Musee Condee, Chantilly.)

268

xxv

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

David the Autocrat of French Art. — His Contemporaries, Guerin, Gerard Girodet, Gros.
— Prudhon. — Ingres. — Gericault. — Delacroix. — The Rise of Romanticism. — The
Eclectics, Paul Delaroche, Scheffer, Flandrin, Cabanel, etc. — Bouguereau. — The
Military Painters, Charlet and Raffet. — Meissonier.— Detaille and Neuville. — The
Painters of Oriental Subjects, Decamps, etc. — The Barbizon School. — Corot and
Millet. — The Realists. Courbet and Manet. — The Impressionists and Pleinairisles.
— The Symbolists: Moreau and Baudry. — Puvis de Chavannes. — The Modern
Belgian School. — The Modern German School. — The Predominance of French
Influences — England alone Independent. — The English School of the XlXth Century.
— The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. — Sculpture in the XlXth Century. — The Grow
ing Internationalism of Art. — A Forecast.

At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, Louis David (1748-1825) held
undisputed sway in the world of French
art. With true Jacobin intolerance, he
had laid down as essential dog
mas in art the imitation of an
tique statues and bas-reliefs, a
contempt for all genre subjects,
and for everything in the nature
of sensual, and even of gay and
agreeable painting. But his prac
tice was better than his precepts,
as his admirable portraits (Fig.
501) testify, and also his grandi
ose Coronation of Napoleon I. in
Notre Dame (Fig. 520), a truly
epic rendering of a great histori
cal event, unrivalled in its kind.
In 1815, David, who had voted
for the death of Louis XVI., was *
banished from France as a regi
cide. He died ten years later in
Belgium, where he painted sev
eral fine portraits, which show a great
increase in breadth of handling, and
seem to reveal a tardy modification

of manner under the influence of Frans
Hals. David's contemporaries, though more
or less subservient to his rule, were

519. — SABINE WOMEN INTERVENING BETWEEN
ROMANS AND SABINES.
DAVID.
(The Louvre.)
more independent than those of Le
Brun. The least personal among them,
Guerin, is also the one who is more

269

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

nearly forgotten than the rest. The in
sipid Gerard is more akin to Canova
than to his master : in his Cupid and
Psyche he seems to prepare the way for
the sickly painters of the Second Em
pire. Girodet sought inspiration from
Macpherson's Ossian, which Napoleon
I. thought equal to the poems of
Homer; his painting, classic in form,
thin and flaccid in execution, is already
romantic in spirit. Gros, the author of
the Pestiferes de Jaffa (Plague-stricken
at Jaffa) (Fig. 522) and the Evening
after Eylau, two fine works, inaugu-

Raphael. He excelled in chiaroscuro,
in rendering the play of light as it

FIG. 520. — CORONATION OF NAPOLEON IN NOTRE
DAME.
DAVID.
(The Louvre.)
rated Romanticism by his taste for
modern subjects and his indifference
to the Graco-Roman tradition. David
disapproved and advised him " to turn
over the pages of Plutarch " ; but Bru
tus and the Gracchi had had their day,
in art as in literature.
The most original of the painters
of the Empire period was Prudhon,
one of the most fascinating of the
great French masters (1758-1823). He
had studied Correggio, and Leonardo,
whom he called " his master and his
hero," and whom he preferred to

FIG. 521. — ZEPHYR AND PSYCHE.
PRUDHON.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
caresses white and velvety flesh. A har
monious and sometimes powerful col
ourist, a somewhat nerveless draughts-

FIG. 522. — BONAPARTE AMONG THE PLAGUE-
STRICKEN AT JAFFA.
GROS.
(The Louvre.)
man, he remained severely classic in
his choice of types and subjects, the

270

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Andre Chenier, as it were, of painting
(Figs. 521, 523). All the artists of this
period, even Gerard, painted sincere

FIG. 523. — JUSTICE AND DIVINE VENGEANCE
PURSUING CRIME.
PRUDHON.
(The Louvre.)
and solid portraits; some of Prud-
hon's, notably those of Madame Copia
and of Josephine, are masterpieces.
From the year 1806 onwards, a pupil
of David's, Ingres, executed a series of
portraits in pencil which must always
be reckoned among the marvels of art
(Fig. 524). This artist, a man of iron
temperament, who lived over eighty
years, began almost as an independent;
he was denounced as a Gothic master,
an imitator of the Pre-Raphaelites.
He became in time an uncompromis
ing classicist, a subtle and nervous
draughtsman, more keenly sensitive to
tactile values than any artist of his age,
but incapable of expressing passion,
emotion, or thought. Not only was he
a bad painter, but he despised painting,
spoke of it as a negligible adjunct, and
gave it as his opinion that what is well
drawn is always painted well enough.
Save in one or two little pictures and
in some exquisitely treated portraits —
those, for instance, of Madame Devau-

cay, Madame de Senonnes and M. Ber-
tin (Fig. 525) — Ingres' painting was
merely tinting on a grand scale. To
quote Delacroix' epigram, he applied
colour as one sticks comfits on a cake.
Horace Vernet, himself a mediocre col
ourist, cried one day : " To think that
he has been plastering us with these
blues for the last twenty years ! " It
is the colour, at once dull and violent,
which makes his Apotheosis of Homer
almost execrable, in spite of the fine
qualities to be discovered in it on care
ful examination. To give some idea
of Ingres' puerile intolerance, I may
mention that he excluded Shakespeare
and Goethe from the gathering of great
men around the Father of Poetry, be
cause he suspected them of Romanti
cism ! His nude female figures, The

FIG. 524. — THE STARNATI FAMILY.
INGRES.
(Drawing.)
(Bonnat Collection.)
Spring, Andromeda, and the Odalisque,
are still justly admired; but they
are more pleasing in black-and-white

271

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

reproductions than in the originals.
"Why does he not write in prose?"
said Boileau of Chapelain. Ingres

FIG. 525. — PORTRAIT OF M. BERTIN.
INGRES.
(The Louvre.)
might have been asked very pertinently
why he painted.
Gericault (1791-1824), whose life
was very short, played an important
part in the history of French art, tak
ing up the tradition of Gros with greater

FIG. 526. — STRATONICE.
INGRES.
(Musee Condg, Chantilly.)
boldness and power. His Raft of the
Medusa (1819), like the Pestiferes de
Jaffa, is more akin to Michelangelo

than to the antique (Fig. 527). With this
masterpiece, • " movement and pathos
made a brilliant return to art." Geri
cault went to England to exhibit his
Raft, and brought back new ideas on
the beauty of colour, as distinguished
from the colouring of the Davidians.
He resembles the English and Rubens
in his admirable studies of horses, such
as the Epsom Races, in the Louvre, the
first example of the " flying gallop " in
French art.1 His Wounded Cuirassier
and his Chasseur Officer, large epic fig
ures, painted before his visit to Eng-

FIG. 527. — THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA.
GERICAULT.
(The Louvre.)

land, are still very conventional in tone
and design.
Gericault's heir was Delacroix (1799-
1 This motive is, in point of fact, a con
ventional one, and is not to be found in
any of the instantaneous photographs of
equine movement (see p. 6). It was an
invention of Mycenjean artists, and was
adopted in Southern Russia, in Sassanidian
Persia, and in China, before it appeared in
Europe. The earliest European example .
is an English engraving of 1794; it was
unknown in France before the Restoration,
and in Germany before 1840. Since the
year 1880 the revelations of instantaneous
photography have discredited this motive,
which is gradually disappearing in art.
272

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1863), who was looked upon as the
leader of the Romantic School. The
word Romanticism is a somewhat
vague term; the movement to which
it is applied was, above all, a protest
against the tyranny of Greece and
Rome, a vindication of the art of the
Middle Ages and of modern times as
against the unjust contempt with which
it was treated. Delacroix took the
subjects of his most famous pictures
from Dante .(Fig. 528), Shakespeare,
Byron, the history of the Crusades, of
the French Revolution, and of the
Greek revolt against the Turks. He

FIG. 528. — DANTE'S BOAT.
DELACROIX.
(The Louvre.)
painted as a pupil of Gericault, Rubens,
and Paul Veronese, with a somewhat
defective mastery of drawing, but with
a feverish energy of life and expression,
a deep and poetic sense of colour. His
bold, ample technique thrust aside the
smooth timidities of the illuminators,
and prepared the way for modern Im
pressionism. His critics do not be
little him when they call him a " sick
Rubens " and a " restless Veronese,"
for his malady and his unrest were the
diseases of his century, more human
and more fecund than the optimism of
his favourite models.

In spite of the anathemas of Ingres,
to whom Delacroix was the Devil in
painting, academic austerity could not

FIG. 520. — MALARIA.
HEBERT..
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
resist the onslaught of the Roman
ticists. This austerity was opposed
to the national genius, which always

FIG. 530. — THE VIRGIN AS CONSOLER.
BOUGUEREAU.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
triumphs in the long run. An eclectic
school sprang up, in which the poetry
of Romanticism, its somewhat mystic

273

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

sympathy with mediaeval legend, a
touch of Greuze's sentimentality, and
even souvenirs of Boucher, blended

FIG. 531- — 1814.
MEISSONIER.
(Chauchard Collection, Paris.)
with the tradition of classic design and
the somewhat empty idealism of the
Davidians. The masters of this school
painted anecdotes on a grand scale,
and sought to rouse emotion by choice
of subject and the grace of feminine
and infantile types, rather than by
the intrinsic qualities of their art.
Among these painters we may mention

in the Ecole des Beaux Arts ; Ary
Scheffer, a Dutchman naturalised in
France, the gentle painter of Mar
guerites and Ophelias; Cou
ture, the author of the Ro
mans of the Decadence, a
theatrical simulacrum of an
orgy; Gleyre, Flandrin, Cog-
niet, Cabanel, Bouguereau,
and many others. I shall
not presume to judge these
men in a few lines, and sum
up the various qualities that
will keep their memories
green. In Gleyre and Flan
drin, Ingres' favourite pupils,
the mystic tendency predom
inates; in Cabanel and Bouguereau the
sensual element is stronger, but theirs
is not the primitive sensuality of Ru-

FIG. 532. — "THEY GRUMBLED."
RAFFET.
(Lithograph.)
Paul Delaroche, a combination of
Girodet and Ingres, the author of The
Princes in the Tower and the Hemicycle

FIG. 533. — SOLFERINO.
MEISSONIER.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
bens ; Cabanel's carnations are woolly,
and Bouguereau's a trifle glassy. Bou-
guereau's European reputation has been
won mainly by religious pictures, of a
smooth and sentimental kind, akin to
the works of Carlo Dolci, though much
superior to these in mastery of com
position and drawing (Fig. 530).
Delaunay, a sincere and virile artist;
Hebert, graceful, tender and delicate,

274

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

yet never insipid (Fig. 529) ; J. P. Lau
rens, the fervid chronicler of the
dramas of history ; Merson, Cormon,
Maignan, and Duez, may perhaps be
included in the same group, as painters
who have devoted their talents to the
same class of subjects. Time alone
will give the necessary perspective to
determine their relative places and
ranks. In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, battle-painting, represented
principally by the Flemish immigrant
Van der Meulen, had produced nothing
in France but mediocre and
pompous works, chronicles of
the dubious doughty deeds of
certain princes. The soldier
was mere food for powder and
counted for nothing. Gros'
Evening after Eylau was the
first military picture in which
the soul of a period found ut
terance, in which we feel the
heart-beats of an artist and a
kindly man. Gros placed the
surgeon Larrey on the first
plane ; the misery of the
wounded, the melancholy of
an evening of carnage filled his mind,
rather than the glory of victorious
leaders. His example was not thrown
away, though many military paint
ers of the nineteenth century, nota
bly the too prolific Horace Vernet,
continued to treat the episodes of
war from the point of view of the
patriotic illustrator, rather than of the
thinker. This cannot be said of Char
let and of Raffet (1792-1845; 1804-
1860), lithographers trained in Gros'
studio, who chronicled the campaigns
of the Revolution and the Empire with
a sentiment at once dramatic and demo
cratic, whose sympathies were with the

obscure and heroic soldier, and who
made his sufferings and his enthusiasm
the central motive of their compositions
(Fig. 531). Leon Cogniet's most dis
tinguished pupil, Meissonier (1813-
1891), and the pupils or imitators of
the latter, Neuville and Detaille, are
allied, in their treatment of military
subjects, to Charlet and Raffet (Figs.
531-534)- A picture such as Meis-
sonier's " 1814," to give one example,
is one of the glories of the French
School of the nineteenth century : there
is nothing to equal it in this special

EIG. 534. — THE DREAM.
DETAILLE .
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
branch in the art of Holland or Italy.
Meissonier also painted anecdotic sub
jects of the eighteenth century with
amazing minuteness and dexterity, and
with a knowledge of form superior even
to that of the Dutch masters (Fig.
535). But the most perfect of his little
pictures pales beside a De Hoogh or an
Ostade, for Meissonier was too insist
ent a draughtsman, he coloured rather
than painted, and was never able to
envelop form in a luminous, caressing
atmosphere.

275

T 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Delacroix made Eastern subjects
fashionable. The Greek war of inde
pendence, the conquest of Algiers, the
increasing activity of French relations
with Constantinople, Syria, and Egypt,
offered a field to painters whose gifts
lay in the direction of colour and pic-
turesqueness, a field they worked with
great skill. The best of these Oriental
ists were Decamps (Fig. 536), Maril-
hat, and Fromentin. Decamps was a
remarkable colourist, perhaps the best

The little masters of the eighteenth
century loved the country rather than
Nature; those fervid worshippers of
Nature, J. J. Rousseau and Bernardin
de St. Pierre, had no influence upon the
art of their day. The revelation of
true Nature, with her frank verdure
and her atmospheric transparencies, was
made to France by Englishmen, Bon-
ington and Constable (Fig. 536), who
sent some of their works to the Salons
of the Restoration period. A group of

FIG. 535. — THE CONNOISSEURS.
MEISSONIER.
(Musee Conde\ Chantilly.)

FIG; 536. — THE CORNFIELD.
CONSTABLE.
(Nalional Gallery, London.)
(Photo, by Hanfstaengl.)

France has produced so far, as we may
see in his fine pictures at Chantilly.
Fromentin, conscientious and a little
timid, painted an East and Arabs
marked by an artificial elegance, but
with a palette full of delicate grada
tions. His best title to fame, however,
is his literary achievement, Les Maitres
d' Autrefois, not the finest, but the only
masterpiece of art criticism produced
by France in the nineteenth century.

French artists established themselves
at Barbizon, in the Forest of Fontaine
bleau, face to face with trees and rocks
and pools, and produced faithful and
impassioned portraits of their native
land, such as French art had never yet
known. The classicists accused them
of representing " arid landscapes de
void of all charm, the lines of which
are poor and the vegetation dry and
stunted," because they took their sub-

276

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

jects from France, not from Italy, and
renounced the " adjusted landscape "
with a ruined temple in the foreground.

FIG. 537- — LANDSCAPE, MORNING.
COROT.
(The Louvre.)
These heretics, at least, have tri
umphed; the Italian landscape is no
more! Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867),
Daubigny (1817-1871), Dupre (1812-
1889) and Diaz (1808-1876) were the
masters of the new school ; the animal-

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FIG. 538. — THE GLEANERS.
MILLET.
(The Louvre.)
painter Troyon (1810-1865) may be
grouped with them. Other gifted ani
mal-painters, such as Mile. Rosa Bon-
heur (1822-1899) and Brascassat (1804-
1867), remained more faithful to the
methods of the Dutch masters, notably
Paul Potter, a somewhat dry and dan
gerous model. The landscape-painter
Corot (1796-1875) holds a place apart;
in the course of his long career he
passed from classicism to the confines
of Impressionism. He was a classicist
by education, and he never ceased to
people his landscape with nymphs and
FIG. 53g. — THE VIGIL.
MILLET.
(Tabourier Collection, Paris.)
Gazelle des Beaux-Arts.
satyrs ; but this superficial fidelity to
tradition was without prejudice to his
independence as a poet painter, a lyric
master of exquisite refinement, a wor
shipper of Nature in her more tranquil
moods, the incomparable limner of the
freshness of morning and the silvery
mists of evening (Fig. 537).
If French landscape found its great
est interpreters in the nineteenth cen
tury, the sturdy French peasant also
found his in Millet (1814-1875). He
277
THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

was, if I may be allowed the phrase, an
idyllic realist, akin to Chardin in his

ment of the nineteenth century (Figs.
538, 539)-
Corot and Millet have had successors
worthy of them. At each annual Salon,
landscape is represented by fine achieve
ments. Frangais and Harpignies, Cazin
and Pointelin, to name but four, are
secure of a place in the Louvre. Jules
Breton, a painter of peasants, like Mil
let, but less rugged, strove to reconcile
poetry and realism, without sacrificing
beauty and grace to truth.
About the year 1855, the frigid cal
ligraphy of the classicists and the ex-

FIG. 540. — PORTRAIT OF GENERAL PRIM.
H. REGNAULT.
(The Louvre.)
technique and choice of subjects, while
the tender and fraternal sentiment that
breathes from his canvases reveals that

FIG. 541. — A STREET IN SMYRNA.
DECAMPS.
(The Louvre.)
(Photo, by Neurdein.)
sympathy with the poor and humble
which has been the honour and the tor-

FIG. 542- — THE WINNOWERS.
COURBET.
(Museum, Nantes.)
Gazette des Beaux-Arts.

haustion of Romanticism brought about
a reaction in favour of realism and
naturalism. Courbet (1819-1877) and
Manet (1833-1884) were its perfervid
apostles. Yet both at the outset of
their careers had sought inspiration
from the Spanish painters, Velasquez
and Goya, rather than from Nature.
Courbet's large landscapes lack atmos
phere and his figures are often painted
with soot ; but the boldness of his exe
cution and the contrast it afforded to
Delaroche's smooth technique set a

278

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

good example (Fig. 542). Manet's
Olympia was even more revolutionary
than Courbet's Bathers; it was a pro
test against those nude goddesses or
mortals, with contours of impossible
elegance, and bloodless, transparent car
nations, so abundantly produced by the
academicism, of the nineteenth century.
But this clamorous demonstration cre
ated a scandal and failed to create a
school. Manet's technique was imi
tated more than his somewhat gro
tesque conception of form. Two ten
dencies, which, from the year 1875 on-

pictorial stenography, disdainful of de
tails which rapid and synthetic vision

FIG. 543. — ORPHEUS.
G. MOREAU.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
wards, developed into veritable sys
tems, Impressionism and Pleinairisme
(the painting of pictures in the open
air), owe their origin to his technique,
the leading principle of which was the
juxtaposition of pure colours — for, said
he, the principal person in a picture is
the light. Impressionism * is a sort of
1 The term is derived from a picture
exhibited by the landscape-painter Monet,

FIG. S44. — FORTUNE.
BAUDRY.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
cannot seize. It is also a reaction
against symbolism, intellectualism, and
all those elements in a work of art

FIG. 545. — THE LADY WITH THE CRESCENT.
BONNAT.
(E. Kann Collection, Paris.)
in 1863, at the Salon des Refuses. It rep
resented a sunset and was entitled: An
Impression.

279

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

which lie outside the true domain of art.
Pleinairisme was a revolt against paint
ing done in the studio, with the black

FIG. 546. — PORTRAIT OF ERNEST RENAN.
BONNAT.
(Prichari Collection.)
(Photo, by Braun, Clement and Co.)
shadows that are never seen in the open
air. A painter may be an Impression
ist without being a Pleinairiste, and
vice versa; among these artists who
broke with schools there were almost
as many schools as individuals.
The most remarkable of the painters
of figures in the open air was Bastien-
Lepage (1848-1884), who died young,
but whose, influence outlived him.
Pleinairisme was especially seductive to
landscape painters — Monet, Pissarro,
Sisley, Cezanne, who were also Im
pressionists in technique. Renoir and
Henri Martin, although they occasion
ally paint landscape, are better known
as painters of figures, which, when
looked at closely, seem mere patches of
colour, but seen from the right distance
become a delight to the eye. " Impres
sionism," it has been said, " renews

landscape by a loving and intelligent
treatment of light, and, in its (?esire for
intensity, discovers the new technique
which decomposes tone in order to re
inforce it." '
One of the masters of Impression
ism, Degas, is a most refilled artist, a
draughtsman as subtle as Ingres, but
deliberately vulgar or extravagant in
his conceptions. Another, Besnard,
seeks to convey an intense suggestion
of life from the harmonious juxtaposi
tion of the most brilliant tints, and
seems to attempt to exaggerate the

FIG. 547. — THE LADY WITH THE GLOVE,
CAROLUS DURAN.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
1 Seailles, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1903,
i. p. 80. The following lines are also note
worthy: " Pointillisme [i.e. applying colour
in small flakes or dots] is the logical conse
quence of the doctrine of the Impressionists,
which was, roughly speaking, that of the de
composition of rays of light. The academic
school ignored all but the artificial distri
bution of light, the sunlight of the studio.
The Impressionists set themselves to analyse
light, to isolate the elements, and so to
increase the vibration" (Cochin, Gazette
des Beaux Arts, 1903, i. p. 455).

280

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

splendour of sunlight. A third, Car-
riere, in a spirit of reaction against
Pleinairisme, carries his pre-occupation
with the fluidity of atmosphere to an
extreme, and drowns his figures in the
diffused glow of a twilight which em
phasises their melancholy. It may be
said that in general Impressionists and
Pleinairistes have abused the function
of light, making abstractions of solid
realities, which nevertheless exist and
claim their rights.

from " the golden shades of Watteau's
parks " and " the companies who whis
per of love to the rustle of satins " !
The naturalism of Courbet and Ma
net provoked an idealist reaction, sym
bolistic rather than academic. The in
fluence of the English Pre-Raphaelites
played its part here ; the chief repre
sentatives of. this refined and aristo
cratic tendency in France were Gustave
Moreau and Paul Baudry (Figs. 543,
544)-

FIG. 548. — THE SACRED GROVE.
PUVIS DE CHAVANNES.
(Hemicycle of the Sorbonne, Paris.)

Under the influence of Millet and
Courbet, reinforced by a growing sym
pathy with the working classes, art has
greatly enlarged its range of subjects.
It d'eals with the labours of towns and
fields, scenes of the street, the village,
the sea, the factory, not only as in the
case of the Dutch masters, from a taste
for picturesque observation, but in the
tender and fraternal spirit of Millet.
Among the painters who have contrib
uted to this transformation, this exalta
tion of the genre-picture, I may men
tion Ulysse Butin, Lhermitte, Roll, and
Steinlen. How far we are with them

In the works of Puvis de Chavannes
(1824-1898) we find pleinairisme, sym
bolism, and idealism, but, above all,
poetry and a lofty logic. He was the
greatest decorative painter of the nine
teenth century, the only one who was
able to paint a vast composition on a
wall without making holes in it by im
portunate shadows. His great works
are in the Sorbonne (Fig. 548), the Pan
theon, the Museums of Amiens, Lyons,
and Marseilles. The contemporaries
with which he seems to have had most
in common were the Lyonnais, Chena-
vard, a thinker rather than a painter,

281

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

and Chasseriau, an original artist who
died young (1819-1856). Puvis resem
bled Giotto not only in the simplicity of
his attitudes and movements, but also
in a deliberate lack of finish and even
incorrectness in his draughtsmanship.
This somewhat puerile archaism was
the aberration of a man of great talent
who was unsurpassed in -the dexterity
with which he grouped figures against
heroic or idyllic landscape, but who

ous art (Figs. 545, 546) was nourished
on that of Ribera and Alonso Cano;
Ricard was educated by Titian and
Rembrandt; Henri Regnault by Goya
(Fig. 540) ; Velasquez inspired Carolus
Duran in his best canvases (the Lady
with the Glove, Fig. 547) ; Correggio
and Prudhon meet in Henner, the
painter of silvery carnations (Fig. 550) ;
Roybet swears by Frans Hals, H. Levy
by Rubens, Bail by Vermeer; Baudry

FIG. 549. — CONSCRIPTS.
DAGNAN-BOUVERET.
(Palais Bourbon, Paris.)

FIG. 550. — ST. SEBASTIAN.
HENNER.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)

rarely deigned to represent life in mo
tion. The study of the great masters of the
past, who have become so accessible in
the museums of Europe, is an impor
tant factor in modern art ; the work of
many distinguished French painters
gives a sort of synthesis of a uniform
academic education and of the influence
of some genius of a former age, to
whom the artist is drawn by individual
temperament. Thus, Bonnat' s vigor-

and Benjamin Constant are Venetians;
Bastien-Lepage and Dagnan-Bouveret
(Fig. 549) love Holbein. It must be
understood that in all these cases the
posthumous lesson has been freely
sought and assimilated, and that the
disciple has not produced mere pasticci,
which modern taste would not tolerate
— in France at least. Schools of plagi
arists such as those founded on Leo
nardo and Raphael in the sixteenth cen
tury would be denounced by public

282

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

opinion, and even Raphael himself
would be called to account for the in
discretion of his loans.

FIG. SSI- — CLEOPATRA ON THE CYDNUS.
MAKART.
(Museum, Stuttgar.)
(Art en Tableaux, Seemann, Leipzig.)
The school of painting in Holland
and Belgium (Israels, Wauters, Leys,
and Gallait) owes something alike to
David, to the French Romanticists, to
the great Flemish and Dutch painters of
the seventeenth century and to the Eng-

FIG. 552. — FIELD-MARSHAL VON MOLTKE.
LENBACH.
(Whitman Collection, London.)
lish. It has produced a whole series
of solid works, strong in conception
and design ; but, strange to say, of art

ists bred in the lands of Rubens and ot
Rembrandt, there has been no true col
ourist among them. In Holland, mod
ern landscape has found distinguished
interpreters, such as the brothers Maris
and the marine painter Mesdag.
In Germany, the Romantic tendency
was at first incarnated in a fantastic
Viennese, Moritz von Schwind, who
painted historical episodes and mediae
val legends with a touch of deliberate
archaism. But the dominant school

FIG. 553. — THE NEREIDS.
BOCKLIN.
(Museum, Basle.)

was that of the so-called Nazarenes,
whose centre of activity was Rome, and
whose chief tenet was the imitation
of Raphael. The masters of this
school, Overbeck (1 789-1869), Kaul-
bach, Schraudolph, Cornelius, and
Schnorr, are now quite forgotten ; they
painted as badly as Ingres, drew very
much worse, and differ from him in
their predilection for vast symbolic
compositions, which are very weari
some and require a commentary. His
toric and anecdotic painting had its
Meissonier in Menzel, who made Fred
erick the Great and his Court live again

283

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

in his works with much intelligence and
great dexterity of handling. A neo-
Venetian School sprang up in Vienna
under Hans Makart (1840-1884), a
brilliant colourist of mediocre intelli
gence (Fig. 546). Titian, Van Dyck,
and the English portraitists were the
educators of Lenbach (died 1904),
whose admirable portraits of Bismarck,
Moltke, and William I. are more strik
ing than refined (Fig. 552). French
realism found adherents in Uhde and
Liebermann, the former inclining to
mysticism, the second more directly

FIG. 554. — THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE.
TURNER.
(National Gallery, London.)
Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei.
(Seemann, Leipzig.)
inspired by Millet. Finally, German
Switzerland produced a colourist whose
extravagance was not free from affecta
tion in Bocklin (1827-1900), at once a
realist and a romanticist, a painter and
a thinker, whose art suffered from his
desire to dazzle and to propound rid
dles (Fig. 553). The Saxon Max
Klinger (b. 1857) is the heir of Bocklin.
Painter, engraver, and sculptor, he, too,
shows a kind of deliberate eccentricity,
but he is a more cultivated artist and
has a more robust talent. At the pres

ent time, the influence of the French
art of the last generation seems to have
taken complete possession of Germany,
which has several clever artists, but no
national style.
Italy has produced a pleinairiste land
scape-painter, the portrayer of Alpine
summits, Segantini, who has exercised
a very considerable influence upon the
French School. Another Italian, Bol-
dini, a strange compound of Baudry
and Manet, should perhaps be classed
among the Parisians of the Decadent
School ; but there are rare manipulative
qualities in his elegant and neurotic
portraits. Since about the middle of the nine
teenth century, the French School has
given the tone in art to continental
Europe; England alone forms an inde
pendent province, in which, however,
artists of original talent have become
rare of late. In the first half of the
century, the greatest of the English art
ists was Turner (1775-1851), a painter
who worshipped light with a kind of
frenzy, a romantic Claude Lorrain, fev
erish, and sometimes theatrical (Fig.
554) . His contemporary, Constable, as
I have said, deserves the credit of creat
ing modern landscape, for he was the
first to accept the literal facts of Nature
as the bases for the most consummate
works of art. His influence has been
profound and universal. During the
first half of the century, one of those
local schools which have been com
moner in the United Kingdom than
elsewhere, at least in modern times,
grew up in the cathedral town of Nor
wich. It produced a few landscape-
painters worthy to rank with the best
of other schools in Crome (1768-1821),
Cotman (1782-1842), Vincent (1796-
1836), and Stark (1794-1859). Under

284

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

the influence of Lawrence (d. 1830),
the great school of English portrait-
painters of the eighteenth century had
already fallen into academicism, and
English painting generally went through
a phase of triviality and insignificance.
From this it was rescued in 1848 by-
three friends, Hunt, Rossetti, and Mil-
lais, who founded the " Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood." Millais gradually aban
doned the stricter principles of the
Brotherhood, and became a first-rate

fig. 555. — HOPE.
WATTS.
(Tate Gallery, London.)
(Photo, by Hollyer.)
painter on traditional lines (Fig. 556) ;
but Rossetti had a brilliant disciple in
jBurne-Jones (Fig. 557), while G. F.
Watts (Fig. 555), though his develop
ment was independent, was inspired by
similar ideas. Violently attacked by the
academic majority, the Pre-Raphael-
ites were eloquently defended by John
Ruskin, a writer whose exquisite mas
tery of English prose was perhaps a
stronger factor in the extraordinary in
fluence he exercised on aesthetics than

FIG. 556. — THE YEOMAN OF THE GUARD.
MILLAIS.
(National Gallery.)
his dogmatic and irresponsible criti
cism. The Pre-Raphaelites saw in Raphael
an apostate from the ideal and a high-

FIG. 557. — LE CHANT D'AMOUR.
BURNE-JONES.
(Ismay Collection, London.)
priest of academicism. They modelled
themselves on Botticelli and Mantegna.
But they were no vulgar imitators.

285

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

The most salient characteristic of their
school is intellectualism, a contempt
for the doctrine of " art for art's sake."

FIG. 558. — PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST'S MOTHER.
WHISTLER.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)

They desired to narrate and to teach,
to touch the hearts of the crowd, to go
to the people and convert them to new
ideas of beauty. Nevertheless, they did
not make their appeal through homely
anecdote, after the manner of Hogarth.
Antiquity and Celtic medievalism fur
nished them with legends in which they
discovered and sought to make others
discover symbols. Though some of
them, as early as 1848, forestalled the
French School in the practice of plein
airisme and pointillisme 1 ( see note on
p. 280) they were not Impressionists ;
they had a horror of loose and hasty
handling; their own method, which is
minute and pedantic in touch, juxta
posed crude and violent colours with
out attempting to harmonise them.
1 Monet and Pissarro went to London in
1870, and there came under the influence of
the English artists, more especially that of
Turner, who had died twenty years before,
and whose last works were Impressionist.

This dry and artificial manner, though
subservient to a high ideal, could not
fail to provoke weariness and revolt.
An American painter-etcher, Whistler
(Figs. 558-560), who, like Manet, took
Velasquez for his exemplar, but was
less aggressive in the expression of his
preferences, appeared in London exhi
bitions with some Impressionist por
traits of a delicate gray tonality, and
certain slightly executed landscapes
" in the French manner," one of which
in particular, a Nocturne in black and
gold, created a sensation. Ruskin at
tacked Whistler, denouncing him as
" a coxcomb who had flung a paint-pot

EIG. S59. — THE 'LONG SHORE MEN.
WHISTLER. (Etching.)
in the face of the public." Whistler
brought an action against Ruskin
(1878) ; he obtained a verdict, with one

286

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

farthing damages, and the suit, in which
Burne-Jones appeared as a witness to

FIG. 560. — THE LITTLE BLUE BONNET.
WHISTLER.
(Mr. William Heinemann, London.)
testify against the new art, seemed to
ratify the triumph of Pre-Raphaelism,
which had conquered public taste
and meant to maintain its position.
As a fact, it was the beginning of
its decline. Whistler died in 1903,
acclaimed and imitated ; the school
of Rossetti and of Burne-Jones is
almost defunct, and French art, in
its most recent development, finds
many adherents north of the Chan
nel. The aesthetics of the pre-Raphael-
ite Brotherhood never held undis
puted sway in contemporary Eng
land. A painter of Dutch origin,
Alma Tadema, has achieved distinc
tion by his pictures of classic life,

minutely finished, but not without dig
nity. Leighton, the late President of
the Royal Academy (d. 1896), was a
painter on the same lines, but of less
virility, whose art had much in com
mon with that of Bouguereau. Por
traiture has been brilliantly repre
sented by Orchardson (who is also
famous as a most refined painter of his
tory and genre) (Fig. 561), by Herko-
mer, Ouless, Shannon, Lavery (Fig.
562) , Furse, and others ; and the Eng
lish tradition in landscape has been
worthily maintained by Hook, Alfred
East, Adrian Stokes, Lathangue, Au-
monier, &c, while Swan holds a place
somewhat apart from all the rest, pri
marily as a painter and sculptor of ani
mals of great originality and power.
Various local centres have arisen and
contributed in their turn to the interest
and originality of English Art. The
most important of these is the Scottish
school, which has exercised a consider
able influence on British Art for the
last forty years. The chief members
are Orchardson, the late John Pettie,
MacWhirter, Peter Graham, Macbeth

FIG. 561.-

-THE QUEEN OF THE SWORDS.
ORCHARDSON.

and Murray. During the last ten or
fourteen years, the most original sec-

287

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

tion of this school has been that asso
ciated with Glasgow, from which city
many painters of European reputation
have issued — Lavery, Guthrie, George
Henry, Roche and others. Another
local centre is the one founded at New-
lyn, in Cornwall, some five and twenty
years ago. It includes many excellent
painters-, whose methods are more akin
to those favoured in Paris than to the

form. The Club has many excellent
painters among its members, such as'

FIG. 562. — SPRING.
LAVERY.

traditional methods of English paint
ing. The most able members of this
coterie are Stanhope Forbes and his
wife, formerly Miss Elizabeth Arm
strong. Another group is that formed
by the New English Art Club, a seces
sion from the queue waiting for admis
sion to the Royal Academy. Here the
ruling spirit is that of Impressionism,
in its more realistic and less sketchy

FIG. 563. — LA MARSEILLAISE.
RUDE.
(Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, Paris,)
Steer, Orpin, Rothenstein, and Bra-
bazon. Sculpture was but slightly affected.
by the Romantic movement. Down to
the middle of the nineteenth century,

FIG. 564. — FIGHT BETWEEN LION AND CROCODILE.
BARYE.
(The Louvre.)
it sought inspiration mainly from an
tiquity, from Canova, and from Thor-
waldsen. But in France, the tradition

288

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

of Puget and Houdon survived ; it even
expanded in the hands of the Burgun
dian Rude (1784-1855), a vigorous art-

FIG. 565. — JOAN OF ARC.
CHAPU.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
ist who touched the sublime in his
Marseillaise on the Arc de Triomphe
(Fig. 563). The Salon of 1833 revealed
the genius of Barye (1796-1875), an in
comparable sculptor of animals, who
may be called the Michelangelo of wild
beasts (Fig. 564). Cain and Gardet
followed on the path he had marked
out. Between 1850 and about 1865, the
imitation of the Italian sculpture of the
Renaissance was grafted on to neo-
classicism ; the result was a very distin
guished eclecticism, still represented by
men such as Chapu, Mercie, Dubois
(Figs. 565-567), Bartholdy, Guillaume,
and Barrias. But the tradition of
Rude, revivified by a passionate study
of nature, was maintained by Carpeaux
(1827-1875), whose group, The Dance,

(Fig. 568) for the facade of the Opera
House created at once a scandal and a
school. When it was unveiled in 1869,
some unknown fanatic bespattered it
during the night with a bottle of ink.
It was Tartuffe's handkerchief tendered
to women of flesh and blood, quivering
with vitality and emotion, creatures to
which the eye had become unaccus
tomed. Several contemporary masters
of sculpture, Fremiet (the nephew of
Rude), Dalou, Falguiere, Bartholome,
and Injalbert, seem more or less akin
to Carpeaux. But this school is. realis
tic rather than naturalistic; the "influ
ence of. great examples is still evident
in the slenderness and elegance of the

FIG. 566. — DAVID.
MERCIE.
(MusiSe du Luxembourg, Peris.)
forms (Figs. 567, 568, 574). Integral
naturalism, which had had no prophets
in sculpture since the time of Donatello,

289

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

has found two in our time; Rodin
in France, and Constantin Meunier in
Belgium. Meunier is the Millet of
sculpture, a Millet who gives us true
images, not of peasants, but of miners
and artisans (Fig. 573). Rodin, the
more varied and poetical spirit, is also
the less ponderous and aggressive of
the two. In addition to admirable por
traits, to single figures that Donatello
might have signed, and groups full of
deep feeling or vibrant passion, he has
expressed in marble all the visions of
a heated fancy, often tending towards
the monstrous and abnormal. But even
when he errs, this extraordinary artist
is never feeble; his forms are still liv-

Florentine influences have laid their
impress on the work of a refined artist,
famous as an engraver of coins and

FIG. 567. — THE FLORENTINE SINGER.
DUBOIS.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
ing and palpitating; the clay or the
marble shares the hyperesthesia of the
sculptor (Figs. 576, 577).

FIG. 568. — THE DANCE.
CARPEAUX.
(Facade of the Opera House, Paris.)

medallions, Roty; but he is neither
Greek nor Florentine ; in his aristo
cratic elegance, he rather recalls the
first French . transformation of Italian
art, the School; of Fontainebleau and
Jean Goujon. A competitor with Roty,
but older than he, Chaplain adheres
more closely to classic tradition and to
that of the great French medallists, of
the seventeenth century, Dupre and
Warin. Germany also produced two vigorous
sculptors, Rauch (Fig. 569) and Riet-
schel, in whom something of the dour
German Renaissance came to life again,
tempered by the influence of Canova.
In England, where, for various reasons,
sculpture has never flourished since
those distant days when the Gothic

290

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

vens (1818-1875), whose monument to
Wellington in St. Paul's, and sketch

FIG. 569. — MONUMENT TO FREDERICK
THE GREAT.
RAUCH.
(Berlin.)
Cathedrals afforded it a shelter, one of
the greatest sculptors of modern times

FIG. 570. — JOAN OF ARC.
- , FREMIET. . .:.
. (Place des Pyramides, Paris)

571. — FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE WORLD
CARPEAUX AND FREMIET.
(Allee de l'Observatoire, Paris.)

arose about the middle of the nine
teenth century. This was Alfred Ste-

for a memorial of the 1851
Exhibition in , the Victoria
and Albert Museum, are
magnificent conceptions. An
other good • sculptor of the
time was Foley (1818-1874),
an Irishman.'- During the last
twenty years this , branch has
shown considerable vitality
in the United Kingdom, and
produced excellent masters
in Thornycrqft; ¦ Brock,
Drury, Frampton, Colton,
John, Leighton; who showed
a greater sense of reality in
marble than on canvas, and
a man of real genius in
Alfred Gilbert, the sculptor
of the Tomb of the Duke of
Clarence at Windsor.
For the last ten years the expressive
resources of sculpture have been en-
291 1 2

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

riched by a revival of polychromy,
which increases daily in popularity.
Polychromy was only banished from

FIG. 572. — CHRISTIAN MARTYR.
FALGUIERE.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
sculpture in the grand style in the days
of Michelangelo, because a great num
ber of antique- statues were then discov
ered which had been washed white by
rain. In classic and mediaeval times
sculptors coloured their marbles,
and examples of polychromy, still
frequent in the first half of the
sixteenth century, have persisted
in Spain down to our own times.
We may even say that it has never
been abandoned in popular sculp
ture and religious imagery. In
this return to painted sculpture,
which will perhaps be exclusively
adopted in the near future, the
part of initiator has fallen to a
French artist, Gerome, who was
both painter and sculptor, though
he shows greater originality in
statuary. A typical work by him
is the polychrome figure in the
Luxembourg personifying the
Necropolis of Tanagra (Fig. 578).
Barrias in France and Klinger in
Germany have successfully followed in
his footsteps.
In dealing with the French art of the

nineteenth century, we have noted the
influence exercised by various elements
from without and from the past, in
spiration derived from England, Spain,
Holland, Germany, Venice, Florence,
and Rome. I have still a few words
to say as to an influence which mani
fested itself in the industrial arts as
early as the middle of the eighteenth
century, the influence of the Far East.
Chinese motives of decoration play an
important part in the furniture and
ceramics of the reign of Louis XV.
The manufacture of Chinese porcelain
began about the period of Charlemagne ;
traders brought specimens to Europe
from the thirteenth century onward ; in
the eighteenth century, decoration bor
rowed motives from these, and Wat
teau amused himself by painting Chi-
noiseries. But Chinese art had given
birth to a child more gifted than itself,

FIG. 573. — INDUSTRY.
C MEUNIER.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)
the art of Japan, which delights in all
the subtleties of line, all the brilliant
caprices of colour, disdains symmetry

292

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

by virtue of a kind of glorified stra-
bism, and paints and carves animals
with a realism still unrivalled in
Europe. The golden age of this art
was the eighteenth century. Europe
discovered it in the second half of the
nineteenth century. The lessons that
had travelled so far were first assimi
lated by decorative art; they gave in
struction in the treatment of lacquers
and enamels, but, above all, they helped
it to throw off the trammels of tradi
tion. The century that had produced
so many artists had not been able to
create a style; after the so-called Em
pire style, which dates from the closing
years of Louis XV., there had been
nothing but a puerile eclecticism, varied
by servile imitations of antique styles.
Japan gave Europe the opportunity to
discover rwhat she was seeking. It was
not the parent, but the godfather of the
modern style.

not than what it is. Of all the styles
hitherto known, it is the first which
has conscientiously pursued novelty,

FIG. 574. — ATHLETE AND PYTHON.
LEIGHTON.
The evolution of this style is still in
its initial stage, and it is difficult to
define it. It is easier to say what it is

FIG. 575. — ARTEMIS.
HAMO THORNYCROFT.
and has turned away resolutely from
the beaten track. From this tendency,
there is but a step to the exaggerated
and the grotesque; but we must not
judge by a few isolated extravagances.
Inspired, as its English name sug
gests, by the teaching of Ruskin, who
preached the worship of simplicity, of
expressive line and colour, and en
dowed with its first masterpieces by
William Morris, in connection with the
Pre-Raphaelite movement, it found
timely inspiration in the art of Japan,
emancipation from the bondage of sym
metry and of the Greek orders, an ad
mirable comprehension of flora and
fauna as decorative elements. But it

293

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

FIG. 576. — BUST OF A WOMAN.
RODIN.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)

turned to Japan for lessons rather than
for models. It prides itself on imi
tating nothing, on turning away alike

FIG. 577. — ST. JOHN BAPTIST.
RODIN.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)

from classic and Gothic tradition, on
substituting individual expression, the
materialisation of thought, to the
schematism of transmitted and conven
tional forms. It does not find beauty
in elegance, but solely in the fitness, the
eloquence of the line, the gentle or im
perious suggestions of colour. Before
acclaiming or condemning this move
ment, we must give its as yet green
fruits time to ripen.1
May we be permitted to forecast the
future after this rapid survey of the

FIG. 578. — TANAGRA.
GEROME.
(Musee du Luxembourg, Paris.)

past? What will be the fate of art in
this twentieth century upon which we
have entered?
We may, I think, predict the extinc
tion of local schools. Rapidity and
1 "The time has come," wrote M. H.
Cochin recently, "when we may sing De
Projundis over the so-called modern style"
(Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1903, ii. p. 44).
This pronouncement seems to me very
premature.

294

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

facility of communication will make it How the field of our studies has ex-
impossible that rival schools should panded, and at the same time gained
spring up a few leagues apart,
like those of Athens and
Argos, Florence and Perugia,
Bruges and Tournai. In the
eighteenth century, schools
became national : we had the
French School, the English
School, the Spanish School.
In the second half of the nine
teenth century, the French
School became supreme on
the Continent and tended to
give the tone to all the rest;
but at the same time, the unity
of this school disappeared ; we
find it embracing Classicists,
Romanticists, Realists, Ideal
ists, Impressionists. Thus,
everything points to the as
sumption that schools will
henceforth no longer bear the
names of cities or of nations ; there will
no longer be rivalries of countries, but
of principles.

FIG. 580. — MOURNING.
SAINT-GAUDENS.
(Monument executed for Mrs. Adams, in a cemetery
near Washington.)

FIG. 579. — MONUMENT TO THE DEAD.
BARTHOLOME.
(Cemetery of Pere La Chaise, Paris.)
(Photo, by Fiorillo.)
in simplicity ! In the nineteenth cen
tury, for the first time in history, mod
ern art, the child of the Renaissance,
had representatives in every country in
Europe: the sculptor Thorwaldsen, the
painters Thaulow and Edelfeldt, in the
Scandinavian countries ; the sculptors
Antokolsky and Troubetzkoi, the paint
ers Verestchagin, Rjepin, and Serow,
in Russia ; the Hungarian Munkacsy,
the Galician Matejko, the Czech Bro-
zik, the Greek Rallis, the Turk Hamdi-
Bey. The United States have entered
the lists brilliantly with a sculptor like
St. Gaudens (Fig. 580), and painters
such as Whistler and Sargent. These
and many others, educated in Paris, in
Rome, or in Germany, have founded
schools in their own countries, which
are not national, but which draw vigour
and inspiration from those great cur
rents which make up European art.

295

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Will the art of the future be pri
marily realistic? I think not. One of

FIG. 581. — LORD RIBBLESDALE.
JOHN S. SARGENT.
(Mrs. Meynell, The Work oj John S. Sargent,
Scribner, New York.)

the great discoveries of the nineteenth
century, photography, has made reality
more familiar to us than to our fore
fathers. What artist, were he as gifted
as a Van Eyck, would compete with a
sensitive plate? What we demand
above all things from art, is what
photography, even polychromatic pho
tography cannot give — the suggestive
beauty of form and movement, the

radiance, intensity, the mystery of col
our — in a word, the equivalent, in art,
of poetry in literature. The art of the
twentieth century will be, I am con
vinced, idealistic and poetical, as well as
popular ; it will translate the eternal as
piration of man, of all men, towards
that which is lacking in daily life, and
that which completes it, those elements
of superfluity and luxury which our sen-

296

FIG. 582. — THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND.
JOHN S. SARGENT.
(Mrs. Meynell, The Work of John S. Sargenl
Scribner, New York.)

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

sibility craves and which no mere utili
tarian progress can supplant.

FIG. "583. — COUNT TOLSTOI.
PRINCE TROUBETZKo'l.
(I.. Reinach Collection, Paris.)
Far from believing that the social
mission of art is at end, or drawing
near that end, I think it will play a
greater part in the twentieth century
than ever. And I think— or at least
hope — that greater importance than
ever will be attached to the study of

art as a branch of education. This
study is one that no civilised man,
whatever his profession, should ignore
in these days. It is in this belief that
I have prepared this brief survey of art

FIG. 584. — INTERIOR IN THE MODERN STYLE.1
ARRANGED BY BARBEDIENNE.
(Dumas, Paris.)

throughout the ages, which I hope may
serve the educatory purposes of art.

297

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XXV.
D. S. Mac Coll et T. D. Gibson Carmichel, Nineteenth Century Art, Glasgow, 1902; A.
Michel, Lostalot, Lefort, Wyzewa, Gonse, Les Chefs-d'auvre de VArt au XIX' siecle, 5 vols.,
Paris, 1892 (Painting, Sculpture and Engraving); R. Muther, Geschichte der Malerei im
XIX1'" Jahrhundert, 3 vols., Munich, 1893-1894 (English trans., London, 1896) ;R. Muther,
Ein Jahrhundert jranzbsischer Malerei, Berlin, 1902 ; K. Schmidt, Franzosische Malerei,
1800—1900, Leipzig, 1903; E. et J. de Goncourt, Eludes d' Art, Paris, 1893 (cf. Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1893, ii., p. 507); F. Benoit, L'Art jrangais sous la Revolution et VEmpire,
Paris, 1897; L. Rosenthal, La Peinture romantique jrangaise, 1815-1820, Dijon, 1900;
A. Michel, Notes sur VArt Moderne (Painting), Paris, 1896; R. Marx, Eludes sur VEcole
frangaise, Paris, 1902 ; L. Benedite, Le Musee du Luxembourg, Paris, s. d. ; Rose Kingsley,
A History oj French Art, 1100-1899, London, 1899; C. Mauclair, The Great French
Painters, 1830 to the present day, London, 1903; G. Lafenestre, La Peinture jrangaise
du XIX' siecle (Baudry, Cabanel, Delaunay, Hebert), Paris 1898; La Collection Tomy-
Thiery au Louvre (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902, i., p. 177); La Tradition dans la Peinture
jrangaise, Paris, 1898; A. Michel, V Exposition centennale de Peinture jrangaise (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1900, ii., p. 284); R. de la Sizeranne, Le Miroir de la vie, essai sur V evolu
tion de Vesthetique, Paris, 1903; E. Pottier, Le Salon de 1892 (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892,
i., p. 441; modern Art in the light of antique Art).
Ch. Ephrussi, Gerard (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1890, ii., p. 449); E. de Goncourt,
Prudhon, Paris, 1876; Ch. Blanc, Les trois Vernet, Paris, 1898; A. Dayot, Les Vernet,
Paris, 1898; H. Harisse, L. Boilly, Paris, 1898; Ch. Blanc, Ingres (Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, 1867, i., p. 415); J. Mommeja, La Jeunesse d'Ingres (ibid., 1898, ii., p. 89); Ingres,
Paris, 1903; L. Mabilleau, Les Dessins d'Ingres a Montauban (ibid., 1894, ii., p. 177);
J. Schnerb, Paul Flandrin (ibid., 1902, ii., p. 114) ; L. Flandrin, Hippolyte Flandrin,
Paris, "1903; C. Gabillot, Hubert Robert et son temps, Paris, 1895; M. Tourneux, Dela
croix, Paris, 1903; A. Alexandre, Histoire de la Peinture mililaire, Paris, 1890; A. Dayot,
Raffet, Paris, 1892; H. Beraldi, Raffet (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1892, i., p-353); H. Beraldi,
Charlet (ibid., 1893, ii., p. 46); O. Greard, Meissonier, Paris, 1897, English trans., 1897;
M. Vachon, D.etaille, Paris, 1896.
D. C. Thomson, Millet and the Barbizon School, London. 1903 ; A. Michel, Millet (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1887, ii., p. 1); W. Gensel, Millet und Rousseau, Bielefeld, 1902; H.
Marcel, Millet, Paris, 1903; R. Rolland, Millet, London, 1903.
B. Prost, Tassaert (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1886, i., p. 28); R. Marx, H. Regnault,
Paris, 1886; G. Larroumet, H. Regnault, Paris, 1890; L. Gonse, E. Fromentin, Paris,
1881; A. Renan, Theodule Chasseriau (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, i., p. 89); A. Renan,
La Peinture orienlaliste (ibid., 1894, i., p. 43).
G. Lafenestre, P. Baudry (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1866, i., p. 395); Ch. Ephrussi,
P. Baudry, Paris, 1887; C. Mauclair, G. Ricard (Revue de VArt, 1902, ii., p. 233); R.
Cantinelli, G. Ricard (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1903, i., p. 89); P. Lefort, Th. Ribot (ibid.,
1891, ii., p. 298); G. Lafenestre, Elie Delaunay (ibid., 1891, ii., p. 353); A. Renan, Puvis
de Chavannes (ibid., 1896, i., p. 79); J. Buisson, Puvis (ibid., 1899, ii., p. 1); M. Vachon,
Puvis, Paris, 1896; A. Renan, G. Moreau (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, i., p. 1); L.
Benedite, G. Moreau et Burne-Jones (Revue de VArt, 1899, i., p. 265).
M. Vachon, Jules Breton, Paris, 1898 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, i., p. 85) ;
P. Desjardins, J.-Ch. Cazin (ibid., 1901, ii., p. 177) ; L. Benedite, J.-Ch. Cazin, Paris,
1902 (Revue de V Art, 1901, ii., p. 1); M. Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900 ; G. SeVilles,
Henner (Revue de VArt, 1897, ii., p. 49); L. Bene'dite, Fantin-Lalour, Paris, 1903; Mon-
trosier, J.-P. Laurens (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, ii., p. 441); G. Seailles, Eug. Carriire,
Paris, 1901; G. Geoffroy, VCEuvre de Carriire, Paris, 1902.
G. Lecomte, L'Art impressionniste, Paris, 1892; C. Mauclair, V impressionnisme
298

ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Paris, 1903; The French Impressionists, London, 1903; G. Geffroy, La Vie arlistique,
3« serie, Paris, 1894; Th. Duret, Critique d' avant-garde, Paris, 1885; J. Meier-Graefe,
Der moderne Impressionismus, Berlin, 1903; A. Mellerio, V Exposition de 1900 et Vlm-
pressionnisme, Paris, 1900; P. Signac, D'Eug. Delacroix au neo-impressionnisme, Paris,
1900; R. de la Sizeranne, Whistler, Ruskin el Vimpressionnisme (Revue de VArt, 1893, ii., p.
433)- Th. Duret, Manet et son CEuvre, Paris, 1902 (cf. A. Marx, Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
1902, ii., p. 427); H. von Tschudi, Ed. Manet, Berlin, 1902; J. Meier-Graefe, Manet
und sein Kreis, Berlin, 1903; F. Laban, Manet (Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst, 1903, p. 25).
C. Mauclair, Edgar Degas (Revue de VArt, 1903, ii., p. 281); M. Liebermann, Degas,
Berlin, 1899; J. Leclercq, A. Sister (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1899, i., p. 227); C. Mauclair,
Pissaro (Nouvelle Revue, December 15, 1903).
C. Lemonnier, Histoire des Beause Arts en Belgique, 1830-1887, Brussels, 1887; M.
Rooses, Les Peintres nSerlandais au XIX' siecle, 2 vols., Anvers, 1899; R. de Montesquiou,
Alfred Stevens (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1900, i., p. 101).
C. Gurlitt, Die deutsche Kunst des XlXten Jahrhunderts, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1900 ; A.
Koeppen, Die moderne Malerei in Deutschland, Bielefeld, 1903 ; de la Mazeliere, La
Peinture allemande au XIX' siecle, Paris, 1900; F. Haack, Moritz von Schwind, Biele
feld, 1898; M. Rosenberg, Lenbach, Bielefeld, 1898 ; H. Knackfuss, Menzel, Bielefeld,
1896; G. Kahn, Max Liebermann (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1901, ii., p. 285); F.-H. Meiss
ner, Fr. von Uhde, Berlin, 1900; F. et K. Eggers, Chr. Dan. Rauch, 5 vols., Berlin, 1873-
1891; C. Beyer, Dannekers Ariane, Frankfort, 1903; E. Michel, Max Klinger (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 1894, i., p. 361); G. Treu, Max Klinger als Bildhauer, Leipzig, 1900;
F.-H. Meissner, Bocklin (ibid., 1893, i., p. 307).
R. de la Sizeranne, Histoire de la Peinture anglaise contemporaine, Paris, .1895 ; Ruskin
et la Religion de la beaute, 5th ed., Paris, 1901; W. H. Hunt, The Preraphaelite Brother
hood (Contemporary Review, May, July, 1886); E. Rod, Les PrSraphaeliles anglais (Gazette
des Beaux-Arts., 1887, ii., p. 177); H.-C. Marillier, D. G. Rossetti, London, 1902; O. von
Schleinitz, Burne-Jones, Bielefeld, 1902; Malcolm Bell, Burne-Jones, London, 1895; J.
Cartwright, Burne-Jones (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1900, ii., p. 25); P. Leprieur, Burne-
Jones (ibid., 1892, ii., p. 381); Walter Armstrong, John Everett Millais (Art Journal, 1885);
H. S. Spielmann, /. E. Millais (Revue de I' Art, 1903, i., p. 33); Watts (ibid., 1898, ii.,
p. 21); M. Darmesteter, Millais (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1897, ii., p. 89) ; C. F. Bateman,
Watts, London, 1903; J. Pennell, Whistler as etcher and lithographer (Burlington Maga
zine, 1903, ii., p. 210); T. R. Way and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler,
London, 1903; Mrs. Meynell, The Work oj John S. Sargent, New York, 1903 .(cf. The
Nation, 1903, ii., p. 426) ; Cosmo Monkhouse, British Contemporary Artists, London, 1899.
R. de la Sizeranne, Segantini (Revue de VArt, 1899, ii., p. 353).
L. Benedite, Les Sculpteurs jrangais contemporains, Paris, 1901; E. Guillaume, La
Sculpture au XIX' siecle (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1900, ii., p. 505) ; L. de Fourcaud, Rude
(ibid., 1888, i., p. 353); Fr. Rude, Paris, 1903; P. Mantz, Barye (ibid., 1867, i., 107); O.
Fidiere, Chapu (ibid., 1894, ii., p. 258); Demaison, Dalou (Revue de VArt, 1900, i., p. 29);
G. Geffroy, Dalou (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1900, i., p. 217); M. Dreyfous, Dalou, Paris,
1903; G. Geffroy, Alex. Falguiere (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1900, i., p. 397) ; G. Beneclite,
Al. Falguiere, Paris, 1902; E. Bricou, Frfmiel (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, i., p. 494);
Demaison, Bartholome et la Monument aux marts (Revue de VArt, 1899, ii., p. 265); E.
Rod, Rodin (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1898, i., p. 419); L. Maillard, Rodin, Paris, 1898;
R. Rilke, Rodin, Berlin, 1903 ; Brieger-Wasservogel, Rodin, Strasburg, 1903 ; A. _Mar-
guillier, Rodin (Les Maitres artistes, 1903, No. 8, reproductions and contemporary opinions) ;
E. Claris, De Vimpressionnisme en sculpture (Rodin, Meunier), Paris, 1903; G. Treu,
C. Meunier, Dresden, 1898; J. Leclercq, Constantin Meunier (Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
1897, i., p. 347); C. Lemonnier, C. Meunier (Grande Revue, July, 1903, p. 28); L. Taft,
The History oj American Sculpture, New York, 1903.
Polychromy: G. Perrot, Histoire de VArt, t. VIII., Paris, 1903, p. 211 (detailed account
with references) ; M. Dieulafoy, La Statuaire polychrome en Espagne (Comptes rendus de
VAcad. des Inscriptions, 1898, p. 794); H. Bulle, Klinger' s Beethoven und die jarbige Plastik
der Griechen, Leipzig, 1903. 299

THE STORY OF ART THROUGHOUT THE AGES
R. Graul, L. Benedite, M. Bing, etc., Die Krisis im Kunstgewerbe, Wege und Ziele
der modernen Richtung, Leipzig, 1902; R. Marx, Les Arts a V Exposition die 1900. La
Decoration et les Industries d'art (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1900, ii., p. 397, 563; 1901, i., p.
53 [p. 81, Lalique; p. 136, Galle]); F. Minkus, Die intemat. Ausslellung jiir moderne
dekorative Kunst in Turin (Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, Vienna, 1902, p. 402); L. de Four
caud, E. Galle (Revue de VArt, 1902, i., p. 34); K. Widmer, Zum Wezen der modernen
Kunst (Zeitschrift jiir bildende Kunst, 1903, ii., p. 30).
F. Brinkley, Japan and China, their History, Arts and Literature, Boston, 1903; A.
Hippesley, A Sketch oj the History oj the Ceramic Art in China, Washington, 1902 (history
of the reciprocal influences of Europe and China); M. Paleologue, L'Art chinois, Paris,
no date; E. Grandidier, La Ceramique chinoise, Paris, 1902; L. Gonse, V Art japonais,
2nd ed., Paris, 1900; Hayashi, Histoire de VArt du Japon, Paris, 1900; E. de Goncourt,
VArt japonais au XVIII' siecle, Hokousai, Paris, 1896 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1895,
ii., p. 441); Th. Duret, La Gravure japonaise (ibid., moo, i., p. 132); G. Migeon, La
Peinture japonaise au Musee du Louvre (Revue de VArt, 1898, i., p. 256); W. von Seidlitz,
Geschichte des japanischen Farbenholzschnittes, Dresden, 1897 (cf. Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
1898, i., p. 174); Hovelacque, L' Art japonais ii V Exposition (ibid., 1900, ii., p. 317); Edw.
Morse, Catalogue oj the Morse Collection oj Japanese Pottery, Cambridge, Mass., 1901;
E. Pottier, Grece et Japon (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1890, ii., p. 105; the fortuitous analogies
of Japanese and Greek Art.

SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY.
To keep the bibliographies of this book up to date, it will suffice to take notes from
the Archdologisher Anzeiger (antique art), and the Repertorium jiir Kunstwissensckajt
(Christian, modern, and Oriental art.) This latter has discontinued its bibliographies
since 1904. A new publication, Internationale Bibliographic der Kunstwissenschajt, may
be recommended for these.
Reproductions of many famous works of art will be found in the following works,
which should form part of every art library :
Seroux d'Agincourt, Histoire de VArt par les Monuments (fourth to sixteenth cen
turies), Paris, 6 vols., 1823, 325 plates, various editions and translations ; F. Winter and
G- Dehio, Kunstgeschichte in Bildern, 5 vols, (to the eighteenth century), Leipsig, 1899-
1900 : Reber and Bryersdorfer, Klassischer Bilderschatz, 12 vols., Munich, 1888-1900
(1800 reproductions, from fourteenth to eighteenth century) ; the same, Klassischer Sculp-
turenschaiz, 4 vols., Munich (ancient and modern sculpture) ; G. Hirt, Kultur geschichtliches
Bilderbuch, 6 vols., Munich (3500 reproductions, sixteenth to eighteenth century) ; S.
Reinach, Repertoires des Peintures anterieures a la Fin de la Renaissance, vol. i., Paris,
1904 (noo reproductions of pictures, fourteenth to sixteenth century).

3CO

INDEX

INDEX

A lancettes, 103.
Abydos, 13.
Academic style, 124, 126, 128.
"Academies," 36.
Academy of Painting, the, 247.
Achermos, 34.
Achaemenides, 23.
Adoration of the Lamb, at Ghent, 194.
Adoration of the Magi, Fabriano, 168; Diir
er, 212; Leonardo, 165, 167; Lochner,
206; Ribera, 225.
^Egina, 43.
^Eschylus, 37.
Agamemnon, 27.
Agasias of Ephesus, 54.
Agincourt, 191.
Agoracritus, pupil of Phidias, 47.
Aix, Cathedral of, 200.
Aix-la-Chapelle, 88.
Albani, the Anacreon of Painting, 220.
Alcamenes, 38, 47.
Aldobrandini, Cardinal, 67n.
Alexander the Great, 53, 60.
Alexandria, 61; Alexandrian art, 72.
Alhambra of Granada, 90.
Allegri, Antonio, see Correggio.
Allori, Alessandro, 224.
Allori, Cristoforo, 224.
Alsace, 103; school of, 215.
Altamira, cave of, 6.
Altar of Peace, the, 79.
Altdorfer, Albrecht, 213.
Amazon, bronze figure of, 40.
Ambassadors, the, Holbein, 213.
Amberger, 214.
Amboise, 162.
Amelineau, M., 12.
Amerbach, 214.
Amiens Cathedral, 102, 109; museum, 281.
Amorgos, 26.
Amphitrite, 48.
Amrou, mosque of, 90.
Amsterdam, school of, 234.
An Impression, 279.

Andromeda, 271.
Angelico, Fra, of Fiesole, 136.
Angers Cathedral, 191.
Anglo-Austro-Belgian style, 129.
A nnunciation to the Shepherds, Palma Vec-
chio, 157.
Anthemius of Tralles, 87.
Antinous, 80.
Antiope, Correggio, 233.
Antokolsky, 295.
Antonio, Marc, 185.
Apelles, 52, 67.
Aphaia, temple of, 37, 43.
Aphrodite, Lord Leconfield's, 52.
Apollo, the Belvedere, 63-64.
Apotheosis of Tiberius, 72; of Homer, 27.
Apoxyomenus, Vatican, 53.
Apulia, 133.
Arabesques, 90.
Arabian art, 90.
Arc de Triomphe, 289.
Archers' Guild, portrait, Van der Heist, 236.
Architect with the Rule, the, Louvre, 20-21.
Architecture, beginnings of, n.
Arethusa, profile of, 73.
Argos, school of, 295.
Armenia, art relics found, 23.
Armstrong, Elizabeth (Mrs. Stanhope
Forbes), 288.
Arnolfini couple, portrait, 195.
Artemis of Delos, 33.
Artemisia, Queen of Caria, 54.
Asia Minor, 60, 66.
Assisi, Giotto's frescoes at, 136.
Assyrian art, statues, 20-22; palaces and
temples, 22-23.
Assyrian Hercules, Louvre, 21.
Athene Parthenos, 42, 46.
Athene Promachos, the, 46.
Athenes, by Phidias, 46-47.
Athenian Parthenon, the, 15.
Athenian vases, 69.
Athens, Acropolis of, 35, 42, 62; decline of,
50, 60; school of, 295.

303

INDEX

Athletes, school of the, 36.
Attalus, King, 61.
Attic art, 52-62.
Attica, quarries of, 33, 42-43.
Augsburg school, 210.
Augustus, 77, 79; portrait of, 81, 82.
Aumonier, 287.
Aurora, Guido Reni, 221.
Autun, Cathedral of, 109.
Auvergne school, 99.
Avignon, 199.

Baalbek, temple of, 78.
Babylon, stone age in, 12.
Bactriana, 60.
Badia, the, at Florence, 140.
Bail, 282.
Ballu, 127.
Balthazar, Castiglione, 176.
Bamberg, 103.
Baptistery gates at Florence, Ghiberti,
192. .
Barbizon, 276.
Baroque style, 120, 128.
Barracco Collection, 64.
Barrias, 289, 292.
Barry, 128.
Bartholdy, 289.
Bartholome, 289.
Bartolommeo, Fra, 174, 178-179.
Barye, 289.
Basalt head (Louvre), 17.
Basilica of Constantine, 77.
Basilicas, 86-87.
Bassorah, 20.
Bastien-Lepage, 280, 282.
Bather, the, 263.
Bathers, the, 279.
Battles of Alexander, Le Brun, 247.
Baudry, Paul, 281, 282.
Beau Dieu d' Amiens, in.
Beaune, hospital of, 196.
Beauneveu, Andre, 113.
Beechey, William, 266.
Belle Jardiniere, Raphael, 173.
Bellini, Giovanni, 149, 154; Gentile, 149,
152; Jacopo, 149.
Belti, see Pintoricchio.
Beltrafno, 167.
Belvedere Madonna, Raphael, 173.
Berenson, Mt, 145, 173.
Bernardin de St. Pierre, 276.
Bernay, treasure of, 67.
Berlin Museum, 62.
Bernini, 119, 223.
Bertin, M., portrait, 271.

Besnard, 280.
Bevilacqua, 121.
Bianchi, 186.
Bibliotheque Nationale, 127 ; Ste. Gene
vieve, 127.
Birth of the Virgin, Del Sarto, 179.
Bismarck, portrait, 284.
Boccador, II, 121.
Bocklin, 284.
Bceotia, 71.
Boileau of Chapelain, 272.
Boldini, 284.
Bologna, Giovanni da, 185.
Bonheur, Mile. Rosa, 277.
Bonington, 276.
Bonnat, 225n, 227, 229, 282.
Book of Hours, Conde Museum, 192, 194;
of Etienne Chevalier, 200.
Bordeaux Cathedral, hi.
Bpsch, Jerome, 198.
Boscoreale, 67.
Botia, 21.
Eotticelli, 138, 178.
Boucher, 257.
Bouguereau, 274.
Boulle, 252.
Bourbonnais, school of, 200.
Bouts, Thierry, 194-196, 207.
Brabazon, 288.
Bramante, 78, 119, 127, 175.
Brancacci Chapel, 137.
Branchidae, 34.
Brandt, Isabella, Rubens' wife, 238.
Brascassat, 277.
Brescia, school of, 160.
Breton, Jules, 278.
Breughel, 198.
Brock, 291.
Broederlam, Melchior, 191.
Broken Pitcher, the, Greuze, 260.
Bronze age, the, 10-12; doors of Baptistery,
Florence, 142.
Bronzino, 179.
Brouwer, Adriaen, 233.
Brozik, 295.
Bruges, school of, 295.
Brunellesco, 118, 127.
Brussels, 130.
Bruyn, Bartholomew, 215.
Bryaxis, work of, 54.
Brygos, 69.
Bugatto, Zanetto, I93n.
Burgkmair, 210.
Burgundy school, 99, 114, 190.
Burne-Jones, 129, 265, 285, 287.
Burning Bush, the, 200.
Butin, Ulysse, 281.

3°4

INDEX

Buttresses, flying, ioo.
Byzantine art, 77-96.
Cabanel, 274.
Cabinet des Estampes, 236; des Me'dailles,
67, 72, 89.
Caftieri, 252.
Cain, 289.
Cairo Museum, 12; mosques, 90.
Caliari, Paolo, see Veronese.
Callicles, 42.
Callot, Jacques, 245.
Calvaert, Denis, 219.
Calvary, a, Sluter, 191.
Cambio, Arnolfo di, 118.
Cambrai, League of, 159.
Cameos, 72.
Camondo clock, the, 263.
Campo Santo, of Pisa, 136.
Canaletto, 159.
Cano, Alonso, 226, 282.
Canon Van de Paele, 17.
Canova, 79, 146, 263, 270, 290.
Canterbury Cathedral, 99, 103.
Capital of the Vintage, Notre Dame, 109.
Caracalla, bust of, 80.
Caravaggio, 221.
Carolus, Duran, 282.
Carmine, the, 137, 178.
Carnac, 9.
Carpaccio, 154-155-
Carpeaux, 289.
Carracci, Lodovico, 219.
Carracci school, 220-221.
Carriere, 281.
Carrousel, the, Louvre, 124, 126.
Carys, 45.
Caryatides in architecture, 45.
Casa TrivulziOj. the, at Milan, 151.
Casino Rospigliosi, the, 82.
Castagno, Andrea del, 137, 179.
Castle of Wied, 196.
Catacombs, the, 82, 84.
Caumont, Arcisse de, 94.
Cazin, 278.
Cellini, Benvenuto, 185.
Celts, flint implements, 8; architecture, 95.
Centaurs and Lapithae, battle of, 38.
Cephisodotus, 50, 51.
Ceramicus of Athens, the, 58.
Certosa, the, at Pavia, 118.
Cezanne, 280.
Chaldaaan art, 19-20, 23, 24.
Chambiges, Pierre, 121.
Champmol, Carthusian Monastery, 191.
Chantilly Castle, 121.
Chaplain, 290.

Chapu, 289.
Chardin, Simon, 260.
Charlet, 275.
Charlemagne, 88.
Chartres Cathedral, 102, 107, 108, 109.
Chasseriau, 282.
Chasseur Officer, 272.
Chenavard, 281.
Chenier, Andre, 271.
Chevalier, Etienne, 200.
Chian sculptures, the, 35.
Chinese art, 25, 292.
Chinoiseries, 292.
Chios, 29-30, 34.
Choisy, M., 98.
Christian art, pictorial, 82; Romanesque
epoch, 84.
Church of the Holy Apostles, Constanti
nople, 91.
Cimabue, 134.
Cimon, 73.
Citeaux, Monks of, 103.
Clarence, Duke of, tomb at Windsor, 291.
Claude, 267.
Clay jars, Troy, 27.
Cleve, Joos van, 215.
Clodion, 263.
Clouets, the, 201.
Cluny, monks of, 99.
Cnidus, 52.
Cnossus, 28.
Coblentz, 46.
Cochin, M. H., 294.
Codoman, Darius, 23.
Cogniet, 274.
Coins, Greek, 73.
Colbert, 124, 247.
Colleone statue, Venice, 142.
Cologne, 103, 120; school, 207, 215.
Colombe, Michel, 201.
Colton, 291.
Comnenus, Alexis, 88.
Concert, Giorgione, 240.
Cond^, Musee, 192.
Condotliere, Messina, 151.
Conegliano, Cima da, 154, 155.
Constable, 266, 276, 284.
Constant, Benjamin, 282.
Constantine, 77, 86.
Conversazioni, 152, 155.
Copia, Madame, portrait, 271.
Coptic art, 90.
Corbeil, 113.
Corinthian capital, 44; vases, 68.
Cormon, 275.
Cornelisz, Jacob, of Amsterdam, 202.
Cornelius, 283.

305

INDEX

Coronation oj Napoleon I. in Notre Dame,
269.
Corot, 233, 278.
Correggio, Antonio Allegri, 157, 185-189,
282.
Cortona, Domenico da, 121.
Cortona, Pietro da, 223.
Cortonisls, School, the, 223.
Cosimo, Piero di, 140.
Counter-Reformation, the, 160, 188, 218,
219.
Coup de Lance, the, 240-241.
Courajod, 101, I34n, 138.
Courbet, 279, 281.
Cousin, Jean, 245.
Coustou, Guillaume, 251.
Couture, 274.
Coy pel, 256.
Coysevox, 251.
Crane, Walter, 129.
Cranach, Lucas, 211, 214-215; the younger,
215.
Crassus, 76.
Credi, Lorenzo di, 140, 197.
Crete, 26.
Crimasa, tombs of, 66; vases,
Cristus, Petrus, 151.
Crivelli, 154.
Crome, 284.
Cromlechs, 9.
Cronaca, 118.
Crucifixion, the, Messina, 151; Volterra,
185; Daret, 196.
Crusades, 96.
Culmbach, Hans von, 213.
Cupid, Michelangelo, 181.
Cupid and Psyche, 270.
Cuyp, 237.
Cyclopean walls, 30.
Cyprus, 24, 26, 29.
Cyrenaica, burial places of, 66.
Cyrus, 23.
Czernin collection, 237.
da Fabriano, Gentile, 149, 168, 169.
da Messina, Antonello, 150-151.
da Vinci, Leonardo, 140, 162, 167, 174;
works for Lodovico Sforza, 163; Madon
na of, 166; school of, 167.
Daggers in ornament, 10.
Dagnan-Bouveret, 282.
Dalou, 289.
Dance oj Death, the, Holbein, 213.
Dance, the, 2S9.
Danneker, 264.
Daphni, Church of, 89.
Daret, Jacques, 196.

Darmstadt, 129.
Daubigny, 277.
David, Gerard, 194, 197, 256-262.
David, Louis, 269, 283.
David, Michelangelo, 181, 182.
de Berry, Jean, Due, 191.
de Champaigne, Philippe, 245.
de Hoogh, Pieter, 233, 236, 275.
de Senonnes, Mme., portrait, 271.
Death and the Knight, Diirer, 213.
Death oj the Virgin, the, Caravaggio, 221.
Decamps, 276.
Degas, 280.
de' Medici, Catherine, 124, 201; Giuliano,
184; Lorenzo, 184.
Delacroix, 271-273, 276.
Delaroche, 274, 278.
Delaunay, 274.
Delphi, 34, 54.
Demeter, statue of, 57, 64.
Denmark, 10, 11.
Descent from the Cross, the, Van der Wey
den, 196; Matsys, 197; the Colognese,
207; Rubens, 240; Jouvenet, 248.
Detaille, 275.
Devaucay, Mme., portrait, 271.
Dianas, of the Louvre and of St. Peters
burg, Houdon, 263.
Diaz, 277.
Diderot, 260.
Dieulafoy, M., 22.
Dijon, 190.
Dionysus, figure of, 51.
Dipylon Vases, 68.
Discobolus, Rome, 39, 40.
Dispute oj the Sacrament, the, Raphael,
175-
Dobson, William, 265.
Doric order, 31, 43, 44; art, 104.
Dolci, Carlo, 224, 274.
Dolmen, 9, 10.
Domenichino, 220.
Domes, 87.
Donatello, 137, 138, 142, 149.
Donjons, 104.
Donna Velata, Raphael, 175.
Doryphorus, the Canon, 39, 53.
Dou, Gerard, 237.
Dresden, 47, 54, 128.
Drury, 291.
Duban, 127.
Dubois, 289.
Duccio, 91, 134, 135.
Ducerceau, 124.
Duez, 275.
Dupre, 277, 290.
Duran, Carolus, 229, 282.

306

INDEX

Diirer, Albert, 211-213.
Durham Cathedral, 99, 101.
Dutch art, 231; little Masters, 198.
Dutuit Collection, 236.
Dying Gladiator, the, 61-62.
Eannadotj, King of Sirpourla, 20.
East, Alfred, 287.
Eclectics, the, 220, 221.
Fxole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 127.
Edelfeldt, 295.
Edict of Nantes, the, 252.
Education oj Pan, the, Signorelli, 141.
Egyptian art,. stone age in, 12-14; under
the Pharaohs, 15 et seq.; temples, 15-16;
bas-reliefs, 16; figurines, 16; paintings
in tombs, 16; statues, 16; conventions
in, 17-18; decorative motives, 19; deco
rative character, 19.
Election, the, Hogarth, 265.
Eleusis, 89.
Elis, 39.
Embarkation for Cythera, Watteau, 256.
t/mile, 254.
Empire style, 126, 258, 293.
Enamels, 11, 293.
End of the World., Signorelli, 141.
Engelbrechtsen, 202.
English School, 285-289; sovereigns, 73;
Renaissance, 129.
Entombment, the, Raphael, 176.
Ephesus, 43.
Epigonus, 62.
Epsom Races, 272.
Erasmus, portrait, Holbein, 214.
Erechtheion, the, 43.
Erechtheus, temple of, 43.
Eros with the Ladder, Rome, 82.
Escorial, the, 196.
Esprit des Lois, the, 254.
Etruria, tombs of, 66; founding of, 75.
Etruscan art, 23 ; vases, 69, 75.
Euphronios, 69.
Evans, Mr. Arthur, excavations in Crete, 28.
Evenetus, 73.
Evening after Eylau, the, 270, 275.
Everdingen, 233.
Fabriano, see da Fabriano, Gentile.
Falconet, 262.
Falguiere, 289.
Fames, Coysevox, 251.
Farnese frescoes, 220.
Father's Curse, the, Greuze, 231.
Fergusson, 94n.
Ferrara, school of, 186.
Fetes, Watteau, 256.

Filippo, Fra, 138.
Flandrin, 274.
Flaxman, 264.
Flemish School, 114, 190-196.
Flinders Petrie, Mr., 12.
Florence, Cathedral of, 118.
Florentine School, 178-295; painting, 141
Foley, 291.
Fontaine, 123.
Fontaine des Innocents, Paris, 201.
Fontainebleau, 121, 290; School of, 201.
Forbes, Stanhope, 288.
Forum, 79.
Fouquet, Jean, 200.
Four Evangelists, the, Diirer, 212.
Fourment, Helena, Rubens' wife, 238.
Fragonard, 82, 257.
Frampton, 291.
Francais, 278.
Franceschi, Piero dei, 141.
Francia, 171, 172.
Franco-Flemish art, 191, 192, 199.
Franco-Italian Renaissance, 201-202.
Fremiet, 289.
French Renaissance, 123, 191; School, 284
et seq.
Frescoes,_ 68.
Frieze of' Archers, the, Louvre, 23.
Froment, 199.
Fromentin, 194, 276.
Furse, 287.
Furtwaengler, Herr, 47.
Gabriel, 125.
Gaddi, Taddeo, 135.
Gainsborough, 266.
Galerie d'Apollon, 247.
Gallait, 283.
Garde Meubles, Place de la Concorde, 125.
Gardet, 289.
Gate of the Lions, 30.
Gauls, art among the, 11-12.
Gavrinis, island of, 10.
Genoa, school of, 223.
Gerard of Haarlem (Geertgen), 195, 270.
Gerard, 270.
Gericault, 272.
German architecture, 95; art, 101, 206;
Renaissance, 128; school, 206-216.
GerSme, 292.
Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 141, 192.
Ghirlandajo. Domenico, 139, 178, 197.
Gilbert, Alfred, 291.
Gilgames, the Assyrian Hercules, 21.
Gillot, 256.
Gioconda, the, Leonardo, 165, 166.
Giordano, Luca (Fa presto), 223.

3°7

INDEX

Giorgione, 152, 154, 155, 179.
Giottesques, 136.
Giotto, 89, 91, 133, 135, 136, 149.
Girardon, 251.
Girodet, 270.
Gisant, the, 113.
Glaber, Raoul, 98.
Gleyre, 274.
Gobelins, the, manufactory, 252.
Goes, see van der Goes.
Goethe, 213.
Gold, 12; vases of Troy, 27.
Gossaert, Jan, of Maubeuge (Mabuse),
198.
Gothic architecture, 80, 97-101, 103-105,
116; art, 94, 96, 114; English, 103, 125;
town-halls, 104; abbeys, 104; sculpture,
107-113; cathedrals, 109; portraits, 113;
statuettes and bas-reliefs, 113; natural
ism, 132.
Goudea, Prince of Sirpourla, 20.
Goujon, Jean, 201, 290.
Goya, 228, 279, 282.
Gozzoli, Benozzo, 137, 155.
Graeco-Roman art, 95.
Grosco-Syrian art, 96.
Graham, Peter, 287.
Granada, 90.
Grand Palais, Paris, 127.
Grandes Chroniques de France, 196.
Greek art, 1-2-13, 1XI' characteristics, 16;
human form reproduced, 26; three per
iods of, 29; Hellenic Middle Ages, 30;
expression in sculpture, 36; temples,
43; Greek pottery, 69; vases, 70-71.
Greuze, 260.
Grien, Hans Baldung, 215.
Gros, 270.
Grottoes, Roman tombs, 117.
Griinewald, Mathias, 215.
Guardi, 159.
Guercino, 220, 223.
Guerin, 269.
Guilds, 108.
Guillain, Louis XIII., 251.
Guillaume, 289.
Guthrie, 288.
Haarlem, School of, 233.
Hainault, 113.
Halbherr, 28.
Halicarnassus, mausoleum at, 54.
Hals, Frans, 232-233, 269, 282.
Hampton Court Palace, 125.
Hankar, 129.
Harlot's Progress, the, Hogarth, 265.
Harpignies, 278.

Hasenauer, 128.
Haymon, Count of Corbeil, 113.
Hebert, 274.
Heidelberg, 123.
Heliodorus driven from the Temple, Raphael,
175-
Hellenic Epoch, the, 60.
Hellenistic Epoch, the, 60-65.
Hemicycle, the, by Delaroche, 274.
Henner, 282.
Henry, George, 288.
Hera, the, of Samos, 34; statue of, 39; tem
ple of, at Olympia, 51.
Heracles, 53.
Herculaneum, 54, 76.
Herkomer, 287.
Hermes group, 51, 73.
Herrera, the elder, 225.
Heuzey, M., 23.
Hildesheim, treasure of, 67.
Hilliard, Nicholas, 264.
Hindoo art, 90.
Hissarlik excavations, 26.
Historical Mirror, the, no.
History of Art among the Ancients, Winck-
elmann, 258.
Hittite art, 23-24.
Hobbema, 237.
Hogarth, 265.
Holbein, Hans, 211, 213, 264, 282.
Holbein the elder, 210.
Holland, school of painting, 283.
Holy Conversations, 152.
Holy Family, of Francis I., Raphael, 175.
Holzschuher, portrait, Diirer, 211.
Homolle, M., 33, 34.
Hook, 287.
Hoppner, 266.
Horses of Marly, Coustou, 251.
Horta, 129.
Hotel de Cluny, Paris, 104; de Ville, 121.
Houdon, 263, 289.
Hugo, Victor, 12.
Humanism, 116, 132, 212.
Hundred Guilder Print, the, Rembrandt,
236.
Hunt, 285.
Huth, Mr. E., 214.
Hycsos, 15.
Hymettus, quarry of, 33.
Iconoclasts, the, 88.
Ictinus, 42, 45.
He de France, 101.
Ilium, excavations, 26.
Imagery, 84.
Imagiers, 108, no, 112, 113, 132, 192, 209.

308

INDEX

Impressionism, 277-288.
Incamminati, Academy of, 220.
Incendio del Borgo, Raphael's, Vatican, 175.
Indian art, antiquity of, 25.
Indre, the, 6.
Ingres, 176, 271.
Injalbert, 289.
Inquisition, the, 152.
Institut de France, the, 163.
Intaglios, 72.
Invalides, dome of, 125.
Ionic order, the, 31, 44.
Ipsamboul, statues of, 16.
Irene, 50-51.
Isidorus of Miletus, 87.
Israel, 283.
Issus, battle of, 68.
Italian temples, 43; potteries, 70; archi
tecture, 127; Renaissance, 128, 139;
realism, 132.
Ivory, 12, 113, 192.
Jacques Cceur's House, Bourges, 104.
Jamesone, George, 264.
Japanese art, 293-294.
Jean le Bon, king of France, 190.
Jean of Bruges, 191.
Jean Sans Peur, 190.
Jesuit style, 120, 188, 218, 224.
Jewish art, 24.
John the Baptist, Leonardo, 165.
Jones, Inigo, 125.
Jordaens, 242.
Josephine, Empress, portrait, 271.
Jouvenet, Jean, 246, 248.
Judgment of Otho, Bouts, 196.
Judith, Allori, 224.
Jupiter and Antiope, Correggio, 187.
Kahrie-Djami, 89.
Karnak, temple of, 15.
Kaulbach, 283.
Keeps, 104.
Kermess, Rubens, 242.
Kiev, churches of, 90.
Klenze, 128.
Klinger, Max, 284, 292.
Kneeling Dominican, the, Zurbaran, 226.
Kneller, Godfrey, 265.
Krafft, Adam, 209-210.
Krell, Oswald, 212.
Laborde, Leon de, 134m
Labrouste, 127.
Labyrinth of Minos' Palace, 28.
La Ferte-Milon, 104.
Lagrenee, 256.

Lake-dwellings, 9-10.
Lancret, 257.
Lange, "Law of Frontality,'' 17-18.
Laocoiin group, the, Vatican, 62-64.
Laon, 103.
Largilliere, Nicholas, 246, 250, 265.
Last Judgment, the, Autun Cathedral, 109;
Cousin, 245; Leyden, 202; Michel
angelo, 141, 184.
Lastman, 234.
Last Supper, the, Castagno, 179; Leonardo,
163, 167; Del Sarto, 179.
Lathangue, 287.
La Tour, 262.
La Trinite Church, 127.
Laurens, J. P., 275.
Lausanne, 103.
Lavery, 287, 288.
Lawrence, 266, 285.
Layard, 21.
Le Brun, 246—247, 269.
Le Nain, brothers, 245.
Le Sueur, 246, 248.
Leconfield, Lord, collection, 52.
Leczynska, Marie, portrait, 262.
Lefuel, 124.
Legend oj St. Ursula, the, Carpaccio, 154-
155-
Leighton, Sir Fred., 287, 291.
Lely, Sir Peter, see van der Faes.
Lemnos, 47.
Lemoyne, 262.
Lenbach, 284.
Leochares, 54, 63.
Leonardo, see da Vinci.
Les Maitres d' Autrefois, 276.
Lescot, Pierre, 124.
Lessing, 62.
Levy, H., 282.
Leyden, see van Leyden.
Leys, 283.
Lhermitte, 281.
Liebermann, 284.
Life of St. Bertin, the, Marmion, 196.
Limbourg, Paul de, 192; brothers, 194.
Lincoln Cathedral, 103.
Lion and lioness, wounded, British Mu
seum, 22.
Lippi, Fra Filippo, 137; Filippino, 140,
178.
Lochner, Stephan, 206-207.
Loggie, Raphael's, Vatican, 174, 176.
Lombardi, the, 149.
Lorenzetti, the, 135.
Lorrain, Claude, 246, 248-249, 284.
Lorthet, cave of, 5.
Lotto, Lorenzo, 149, 157.

309

INDEX

Lotus in Egyptian art, the, 19.
Louis XIV. style, 123, 124, 223, 246.
Louis XVI. style, 126, 258.
Louvre palace, 123.
Lucretia, Diirer, 212.
Lucullus, 76.
Luini, 167.
Luther, 214.
Lydian art, 23.
Lysippus, 53-54-
Macbeth, 287.
Macpherson, 270.
MacWhirter, 287.
Madeleine, Paris, 126.
Maderna, 119.
Madonna del Gran Duca, Raphael, 173.
Madonna della Cesta, 187.
Madonna delle Arpie, Del Sarto, 179.
Madonna di Foligno, Raphael, 175.
Madonna di San Sisto, Raphael, 175.
Madonna of the Rosary, Sassoferrato, 224.
Madonna, the Munich, 173.
Madonna, the Umbrian, 170.
Madonnas, Venetian, 152.
Magdalen, Bordeaux Cathedral, 111.
Maignan, 275.
Majano, Benedetto da, 118, 143.
Makart, Hans, 284.
Male, M. E., no, 112.
Malherbe, 123.
Malouel, the Guelderlander, 192.
Man wilh the Glove, the, Titian, 157.
Man with the Pink, the, 17.
Manet, 279, 281.
Mannerists, 219.
Manoah's Sacrifice, Rembrandt, 235.
Mansard, Jules Hardouin, 124.
Mantegna, 150, 154; frescoes of, 76.
Mantua, 150.
Manuscripts, illuminated, 107.
Marguerite of Flanders, portrait, 190, 192.
Marilhat, 276.
Maris brothers, the, 283.
Marmion, Simon, 196-197.
Mariage a la Mode, Hogarth, 265.
Marriage of St. Catherine, Correggio, 187.
Marsh, The, Ruisdael, 233.
Marshal de Saxe, tomb of, Pigalle, 263.
Martin, Henri, 280.
Martini, Simone, 135.
Masaccio, 136, 137, 178, 192.
Master of the Altar of St. Bartholomew, 207;
Lyversberg Passion, 208; Death of the
Virgin, 215.
Mater Dolorosa, 57.
Matsys, Quentin, 194, 197.

Mausolus, statue of, 54, 55.
Mazarin, 124, 247.
Medici, see dei Medici.
Meissonier, 232, 275.
Melancholy, Diirer, 213.
Melancthon, 214.
Melos, 48.
Memling, 194, 197.
Mengs, Raphael, 256.
Menhirs, 9.
Menzel, 283.
Mercie, 289.
Mercury, Pigalle, 263.
Mercury taking Flight, Giov. da Bologna,
l85-
Mercury instructing Cupid, Correggio, 187.
Merson, 275.
Mesdag, 283.
Metzu, 233, 237.
Meunier, Constantin, 142, 290.
Michelangelo, 119, 120, 140,- 142, 157, 158,
174, 178, 181; influence on Florentine
School, 180; work in Sistine Chapel, 180,
184; as a sculptor, 180-181; pictures of,
184; school of, 201.
Michelozzo, 118.
Mieris, 237.
Mignard, 246, 250.
Milan Cathedral, 103, 120.
Milkmaid, Greuze, 260.
Millais, 285.
Millet, 278, 281.
Milo of Crotona, Puget, 62, 252.
Miniatures, 191.
Minoan bas-reliefs and metal work, 31.
Minos' Palace, 28.
Mirror of the World, the, no.
Modern style, 293.
Moissac, Church of (Tarn et Garonne), 109.
Moliere, quoted, 250-251.
Moltke, portrait, 284.
Monet, 280, 286.
Monna Lisa Gioconda, Leonardo, 165.
Mont St. Michel, 104.
Montanez, 226.
Montefalco, 137.
Moorish architecture, 90.
Moral Mirror, the, no.
Morales, the Divine, 225.
More, Sir Thomas, portrait, Holbein, 214.
Morea, 38.
Moreau, Gustave, 281.
Morelli, 168.
Morett, Hubert, portrait, Holbein, 214.
Morgan, Mr., 12.
Morning, Evening, Day, and Night,
Michelangelo, 184.

310

INDEX

Moro, Lodovico, II, 162.
Morot, Aime, 5.
Morris, William, 129, 293.
Mosaics, 67, 82.
Moscow, churches of, 90.
Moses, Michelangelo, 183.
Mosques, 90.
Mount Athos convent, 89.
Munich Museum, 70.
Munkacsy, 295.
Murano, island of, 149; School of, 150.
Murillo, 228, 265.
Murray, 287.
Museum of St. Petersburg, 72; Vienna,
72, 128; of the Luxembourg, 219.
Musset, 224.
Mussulman art, 13.
Mycale, 37.
Mycenas, excavations, 2 7 et seq. ; vases, 68.
Myrina, 71.
Myron, 39-40.
Naples School, 223.
Nativity, the, van der Goes, 197.
Nattier, 261.
Naturalism, 132, 278, 281, 289.
Nazarenes, school of, 283.
Necropolis of Tanagra, 292.
Negadah, 13.
Neo-Greek style, 128; neo-Venetian, 284.
Nerva, portrait of, 81.
Neuville, 275.
New English Art Club,- 288.
New Grange, 10.
Newlyn coterie, 288.
Newton, excavations of, 54, 57.
Nicholas of Apulia, 133.
Nietzsche, 138.
Night watch, the, Rembrandt, 235.
Nike of Delos, the, 35.
Nineveh, monuments of, 20.
Niobe group, the, 55-56.
Nocturne in black and gold, Whistler 286.
Norman architecture, 99.
Northern style in art, 96.
Northern Syria, art relics found, 23.
Notre Dame, Paris, 102; Rheims, 109.
Noyon, Church of, 102.
Nozze Aldobrandini, the, Vatican, 67.
Nuremberg, School of, 210, 211.
Ny-Carlsberg collection, 46.
Oath of the Horalii, the, David, 258.
Obelisks, 9.
Octavius, head of, 79.
Odalisque, Ingres, 271.
CEnomaus, 38.

jive, the, 99-100.
Oliver, Isaac, 264.
Olympia, the, Manet, 279.
Olympia, temple of, 37, 46.
Opera House, Paris, 127.
Orantes, statues of, 35.
Orchardson, 287.
Orientalists, 276.
Orleans, duke of, 192.
Orley, Barendt van, 198.
Orpin, 288.
Orvieto, 76, 141.
Ossian, 270.
Ostade, 275.
Ouless, 287.
Ouwater, Albert van, 194, 195.
Overbeds, 283.
Padua, School of, 149.
Paeonios of Mende, Thrace, 38.
Palaeologi, the, 89.
Palais de Justice, Brussels, 128.
Palais des Machines, 127.
Palazzo Pesaro, 121.
Palazzo Riccardi frescoes, 137.
Palladio, Andrea, 119.
Pallas Athene, 37.
Palmyra, temple of, 78.
Panselinos, the "Raphael of Athos," 89.
Pantheon in Rome, 77; Paris, 124.
Papyrus, the, in Egyptian art, 19.
Parisian Renaissance, 192.
Parliament House, Vienna, 128; London,
129.
Parma Cathedral, 187.
Parnassus, Raphael, 175.
Parrhasius, 52, 67.
Parthenon, the, 42.
Pater, 257.
Paternal Curse, the, Greuze, 260.
Pausanias, 38, 51.
Pavilion de Marsan, 123; de Sully, 124.
Peloponnesus, 39.
Pentelicus, quarry of, 33.
Percier, 123.
Pergamum, School of, 61-62.
Pericles, 42-48, 50.
Perigord, caves, 6; school, 99.
Perigueux, 91.
Perrault, Claude, 124.
Perreal, Jean, 200.
Persepolis, palace of, 23.
Persian art, 23, 90.
Perugia, school of, 295.
Perugino, see Vannucci.
Pestiferes de Jaffa, the, 270.
Peter the Great, Falconet, 263.

3"

INDEX

Petit Palais, the, Paris, 127.
Petrie, Mr., 12.
Pettie, John, 287.
Phidias, 14, 39, 40, 51; work on the Par
thenon, 42-48.
Philip of Macedon, 60.
Philip the Bold, 169.
Philippe le Bon, 190.
Philippe le Hardi, 190-192.
Philippe de Rouvre, 190.
Philosophers, the, Rembrandt, 235.
Phoenician art, 24.
Phssstus, palace of, 28-29.
Field, Michelangelo, 181, 199.
Pierrefonds Castle, 104.
Pietro of Verona, 192.
Pigalle, 263.
Pilon, Germain, 201.
Pindar, odes of, 37.
Pintoricchio, 170, 172.
Piombo, Sebastiano del, 157, 185.
Piranesi, 258.
Pisa, Cathedral of, 99.
Pisanello, 168, 169.
Pisano, Giovanni, 133, 136; Niccola, 133.
Pissarro, 280, 286.
Pistoia, Cathedral of, 140.
Pitti Palace, Florence, 118.
Place des Vosges, the, Paris, 123.
Plague-stricken at Jaffa, the, 270.
Plato, 50.
Pleinairisme, 223, 279, 280, 281, 286.
Pointelin, 278.
Pointillisme, 28on, 286.
Pollaiuoli, Antonio, 138.
Poliorcetes, Demetrius, 56.
Polished Stone age, the, 9.
Polychromy, 292.
Polyclitus of Argos, 39-40, 53.
Polygnotus, works of, 52, 67-68.
Pompeii, 76, 82.
Pontormo, 179.
Pope Leo Checking the Advance of Attila,
Raphael, 175.
Poppelmann, 128.
Porta, Baccio della, see Bartolommeo,
Fra.
Portinari, Tommaso, 197.
Portrait painters and portraiture, 265, 287;
French, 249, 261-262.
Poseidon and Erechtheus, temple of, 43,
45-
Pourtales Collection, the, 64.
Poussin, Nicholas, 67, 246-248.
Potter, Paul, 237, 277.
Pradier, 146.
Prague, 206.

Praxiteles, 14; philosophic art of, 50; works
of, 51-52.
"Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood," 285-288,
?93-
Priene, 43.
Prieur, Barthelemy, 201.
Primaticcio, 201.
Princes in the Tower, the, 274.
Propylasa, the, 45.
Provence, School of, 200.
Prudhompie, Sully, 57.
Prudhon, 270, 282.
Ptolemy, 56.
Puget, Pierre, 62, 251-252, 289.
Puvis de Chavannes, 281.
Pyramids, the, 16.
Quaternary period in art, 2-5.
Quercia, Jacopo della, 143, 181.
Quinault, quoted, 247.
Raeburn, 266.
Raffet, 275.
Raft of the Medusa, the, 272.
Rake's Progress, the, Hogarth, 265.
Ramsay, Allan, 266.
Rape of the Leucippidm, the, Rubens, 242.
Raphael, 94, 119, 157, 179; compared with
Perugino and Pintoricchio, 171, 172;
Madonnas of, 173; work at the Vatican,
174-175; other works of, 171-177; crit
icism of, 176-177; Bible of, 175.
Rationalism, 33.
Rattier, M., 163.
Rauch, 290.
Ravenna, 84, 86, 96.
Realism, 132, 278.
Recamier, Mme., portrait, 262.
Reclining Venus, Titian, 155.
Redentore, Church of the, 119.
Reformation, 188, 202, 230.
Regnault, Henri, 227, 229, 282.
Reindeer-hunters, the, 31.
Rembrandt, 202, 234-237, 282.
Renaissance art, 103; architecture, 116-
117; churches, 117.
Reni, Guido, 220, 221, 223.
Renoir, 280.
Repose in Egypt, the, Diirer, 213.
Resurrection of Lazarus, the, Del Piombo,
157, 185; Ouwater, 195.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 266.
Rheims Cathedral, 102, 109.
Rhodes, school of, 61.
Ribera, 225, 282.
Ribot, Theodule, 225.

312

!P '

INDEX

Ricard, 282.
Riccardi Palace, the, 118.
Rietschel, 290.
Rigaud, Hippolyte, 246, 249.
Rio, Alexis, 84.
Rjepin, 295.
Robbia, Andrea della, Giovanni della,
Luca della, 143.
Robert, Inquisitor of France, 113.
RocheJ 288.
Rochester Cathedral, 99.
Rococo style, 126, 128.
Rodin, 142, 290.
Roger de la Pasture, Van der Weyden,
196.
Rolin, Chancellor, 195.
Roll, 281.
Roman art, 76, 80-83; Coliseum, 77
architecture, 77, 78; aqueducts, 78
arches, 78; painting, 81; basilicas, 86
monuments, 116; School, 224.
Romance tongue, 94.
Romanesque or Romance art, 94; archi
tecture, 97-105; churches, 98-103; sculp
ture, 107 el seq.
Romano, Giulio, 174, 175.
Romans of the Decadence, the, 274.
Romanticists, 273, 278, 283, 284.
Romney, 266.
Rosa, Salvator, 223.
Rospigliosi Palace, 221.
Rossellino, Antonio, 143.
Rossetti, 285, 287.
Rosso, 201.
Rothenstein, 288.
Rothschild, M. Edmond de, 67; M. Gus
tave, collection, 195.
Roty. 73- 29°-
Roumelia, 26.
Rousseau, J. J., 276.
Rousseau, Theodore, 277.
Roybet, 282.
Rubens, 198, 228, 238-242, 264, 265, 283.
Rude, 62, 289.
Rural Concert, Giorgione, 152.
Ruskin, John, 129, 286, 293.
Ruysdael, 267.
St. Peter's, Rome, 77, 119-120; St. Paul-
without-the-Walls, 86; St. Sophia, 87,
90, 120; St. Denis, abbey of, 89, 102, 107,
113; St. Petersburg, churches of, 90;
St. Front Cathedral, 91; St. Mark's,
Venice, 91; Library of, 119; St. Germain-
des-Pres, church of, 99; St. Louis, no,
113, 132; St. Paul's, London, 120, 125;
St. Germain, 121; St. Sulpice, 125; St.

Francis of Assisi, 145; St. Anne, mon
astery, Bruges, 195; St. Bertin, Abbe de,
197; St. Gaudens, 295.
St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, 136.
Sl. Jerome, Messina, 151; Leonardo, 165.
St. Jerome in his Cell, Diirer, 213.
St. Jerome's Last Communion, Domeni-
chino, 220.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa of, 112.
Saint-Acheul, 12.
Sainte-Chapelle, the, 102, 113.
Saints, Venetian, 152.
Saite period, 15, 17, 24.
Salamis, 37.
Salisbury Cathedral, 103.
Salle de Pas Perdus, Palais de Justice, 127;
Lacaze, Louvre, 250.
.Salon Carre, 248; des Refuse's, 279.
Salvator Mundi, Messina, 151.
San Vitale, church, 87; San Gimignano,
137; San Salvi, 179; San Pietro, church
of, 183.
Sansovino, Andrea, 143.
Sansovino, Jacopo, 119.
Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, 87; Sant' Apollinare
in Classe, 87.
Santa Croce, 136; Santa Maria delle Grazie,
l6.3"
Santi, Giovanni, 171; Santi or Sanzio,
Raphael, style of, 168-171; birth and
parentage of, 171.
Sarcophagus of Alexander, 65; sarcophagi,
85-
Sardonyx, cameos cut in, 72.
Saronno frescoes, Leonardo, 168.
Sarto, Andrea del, 178, 179.
Sarzec, M. de, 20.
Sassoferrato, 224.
Savonarola, 141, 178.
Saxon architecture, 99; School, 214.
Scheffer, Ary, 274.
Schinkel, 128.
Schliemann, Heinrich, excavations, 13,
26-27.
Schnorr, 283.
Schongauer, Martin, 210.
School of Athens, the, Raphael, 175.
Schoolmaster, the, Ostade, 233.
Schraudolph, 283.
Scopas, philosophic art of, 50; works of,
52_54-
Scottish School, the, 287.
Scribe, the, Louvre, 17.
Seailles, 280.
"Secessionist" School, 129.
Second Empire, the, 127.
Segantini, 284.

313

INDEX

Semper, 128.
Sens, Church, 107.
Sens, William of, 103.
Serizat, M. and Mme., portrait, 262.
Serow, 295.
Servandoni, 125.
Sesto, Cesare da, 167.
Settignano, Desiderio da, 142.
Seymour, Jane, portrait, Holbein, 214.
Sforza, Bianca Maria, Duchess of Milan,
i93n; Francesco, 163.
Shannon, 287.
Shepherds of Arcadia, Poussin, 247.
Shrine of St. Ursula, the, Memling, 197.
Sicily, temples of, 43 ; coins of, 73.
Siculus, Diodorus, 16.
Sicyo'n, town of, 53.
Sidon, 65.
Sienese school, 135, 168.
Signorelli, Luca, 141 ; frescoes of, at Or-
vieto, 76.
Sisley, 280.
Sistine Chapel, 141; frescoes, 158.
Sizeranne, R. de la, 265.
Slaves, Michelangelo, 146.
Sluter, Claux, 191-192.
Socrates, 50.
Sodoma, 168.
Solario, 167.
Sorbonne, the, 281.
Soufflot, 124.
Sower, the, Roty, 73.
Spagna, Lo, 173.
Spanish art, 228.
Sparta, 50.
Sphinx, 18-19.
Sposalizio or Marriage of the Virgin, the,
Raphael, 172.
Spring, Botticelli, 139.
Squarcione, 150.
Stabat Mater, in.
Stalactite vaults, 90.
Stanze, Raphael's, Vatican, 174, 175, 176.
Stark, 284.
Steen, 237.
Steenken, Hermann, 195.
Steer, 288.
Steinlen, 281.
Stela of the Vultures, bas-relief, Louvre,
20.
Stela, the Athenian, 58.
Stevens, Alfred, 291.
Stoffels, Hendrickje, 234.
Stokes, Adrian, 287.
Stone age in Egypt, the, 12-14.
Stonehenge, 11.
Stoss, Veit, 209-210.

Strasburg, 103.
Strozzi Palace, the, 118.
Suabia, School of, 210.
"Superman," the, 138.
Supper at Emmaus, the, Rembrandt, 235.
Susa, palace of, 22, 23.
Swan, 287.
Swing, the, Fragonard, 231.
Syndics, the, Rembrandt, 235.
Tadema, Alma, 287.
Talenti, Francesco, 118.
Tanagra in Bceotia, 71.
Tartuffe, 289.
Tatti, Jacopo, 119.
Tegaea, temple of, 52, 53.
Tello, monuments of, 20, 21.
Teniers, David, 243.
Terborch, 233, 237.
Thebes, 60.
Theodoric, King of the Goths, 86.
Thera (Santorin), 26.
Thornhill, Sir James, 265.
Thornycroft, 291.
Thorwaldsen, 264, 288, 295.
Thrace, 26.
Three Fates, the, 47.
Three Graces, the, 263.
Tiepolo, 159-160.
Timotheus, work of, 54.
Tintoretto, 158-159.
Tiryns, excavations, 27 et seq.
Titian, 154, 155, 226, 265, 282, 284.
Titus, Arch of, 78.
Titus, son of Rembrandt, 234.
Tocque, 261.
"Tomb of Francois," 75.
Tombs, Mycenasan, 27; of Julius II., by
Michelangelo, 183; of Flemish Renais
sance, 193.
Tommaso of Modena, 206.
Tour Eiffel, the, 127.
Touraine, School of, 200.
Tower oj Babel, the, 22.
Trajan, 79, 80; Arch of, 81; Column,
126.
Transfiguration, the, Raphael, 175.
Treasury of the Cnidians, the, 34.
Trinita, Church of, the, Rome, 185.
Triumph of the Church, Raphael, 175.
Triumphal Arch, in St. Paul-without-the-
Walls, 86.
Troubetzkoi, 295.
Troy, excavations, 13, 26, 27.
Troyon, 277.
Tsountas, M., 28.
Tudor style, the, 125.

314

INDEX

Tumuli, io.
Turkish art, 90.
Turner, 249, 28;
Tuscany, 179.

Uccello, Paolo, 137, 138.
Uhde, 284.
Umbrian School, 168, 169.
University, the, Vienna, 128.
Urbino, 171.
Utrecht, Union of, 230.

Val de Grace Chapel, 250.
Valentina of Milan, Visconti, 192.
Valeri, Malaguzzi, I93n.
Van der Fals, Pieter (Sir Peter Lely),
265.
Van der Goes, Hugo, 194, 197.
Van der Heist, 236.
Van der Meulen, 275.
Van der Neer, Aart, 237.
Van der Weyden, Roger, 57, 168-169, I93n>
194, 199, 207, 210.
Van Dyck, 228, 242, 264, 266, 284.
Van Eycks, 17, 138, 151, 193, 194; Hubert,
169, 194, 195; Jan, 194-195-
Van Goyen, 237.
Van Leyden, Lucas, 202.
Van Loo, 256.
Van Noort, Adam, 238.
Van Ostade, Adriaen, 233.
Van Ruisdael, Jacob, 233.
Van Ruisdael, Solomon, 233.
Van Scorel, Jan, 202.
Vannucci (Perugino), 170, 172.
Varvakeion School, the, 46.
Vasari, 91, 94.
Vases, Mycenasan, 27; in bronze age, 10;
golden, of Vaphio, 28.
Vaults, gf el seq.
Vecchio, Palma, 157.
Velasquez, 151, 155, 226-228, 278, 282.
Venddme Column, the, 126.
Venetian architecture, 127; Renaissance,
160; school, 149, 171.
Venius, Otto, 238.
Venus, Cranach, 215.
Venus of Milo, the, 48, 73.
Verestchagin, 295.
Vermeer, 237, 282.
Vernet, Joseph, 267.
Vernet, Horace, 271, 275.
Veronese, Paolo, 158, 159.
Veronese school, 160.
Verrocchio, 137, 142-

Versailles, Palace of, 123, 124.
Vesuvius, 67.
Vicenza, school of, 160.
Victorious Perseus, Cellini, 185.
Victory of Samothrace, the, 34, 55.
Vien, 256, 258.
Vigee-Lebrun, Mme., portrait, 262.
Villeneuve hospital, 199.
Vincent, no, 284.
Viollet-le-Duc, 127, 130.
Virgin among the Rocks, the, Leonardo, 165.
Virgin and Child, the, Catacombs, 85;
Michelangelo, 181; Sluter, 191; Doret,
196; Holbein, 213.
Virgin appearing lo St. Bernard, the, Filip
pino, 140.
Virgin in the Rose-garden, the, Schongauer,
210.
Virgin surrounded by Saints, the, David,
197.
Virgin, the stricken, Matsys, 197.
Virgin with St. Anne, the, Leonardo, 165,
167.
Vischer, Pieter, 210.
Visconti, 124.
Vision of a Knight, Raphael, 171.
Visitation, the, Ghirlandajo, 140.
Viti, Timoteo, 171.
Vivarini, Alvise, 149.
Volsci, 75.
Voltaire, Houdon, 263.
Volterra, Daniele da, 185.
Von Schwind, Moritz, 283.
Vouet, Simon, 246.

Wagner, Otto, 129.
Warham, Archbishop, portrait of, Holbein,
214.
Warin, 290.
Warrior, the, Louvre, 62.
Watteau, Antoine, 254, 256-257, 281.
Watts, G. F., 285.
Wauters, 283.
Well of Moses, the, Sluter, 191.
Westminster Abbey, choir of, 103; Henry
VII.'s Chapel 125.
Whistler, 227, 265, 286, 287.
Whitehall, 125.
Wilhelm of Cologne, 206.
William J., portrait, 284.
Wilson, Richard, 267.
Winchester Cathedral, 99.
Winckelmann, 258.
Windsor, St. George's Chapel at, 125.
Winged bulls of Assyria, the, 22, 24.
Wingless Victory, the, Nike Apteros, 45.

315

INDEX
Wohlgemut, Michel, 211. Ypres^ 191.
Wolfflin, H., i83n.
Worms, Church at, 99.
Wounded Cuirassier, 272. Zeitblom of Ulm, 210.
Wounded Warrior, Munich, 37. Zeus, temple of, 37-38, 43; statue, 46.
Wouwerman, Philips, 234. Zeuxis, 52; work's of, 67-68.
Wren, Sir Christopher, 125. Zurbaran, 226.
Wrestler, the Borghese, Louvre, 54. Zwinger, Pavilion of the, 128.

316

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